Neon Genesis Evangelion Retold
by BlAcKMaGiK
Summary: This is all there will be for a while.
1. Prologue

Neon Genesis Evangelion Retold 

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion. 

A/N: Redid this chapter. Spelling errors.

Prologue 

"You shouldn't have been so hard on him. He did save your life." Misato says sitting at the dining table. Asuka was sitting on the couch.

"He didn't save me! I was fine! He just stuck his foot in!" 

"Whatever you say I guess" Misato says, "but remember how he's going to feel from he's point of view"

"Whatever, he won't express anything, he's too scared."

--------

Darkness covers everything. Nothing can be seen, but two figures. One standing, one sitting. 

"I hate you!" 

"Understandable, I'm sorry" 

"No! You're not sorry. You're never sorry!" 

"I am, truly. I'm so sor-" 

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!!! You're not sorry! Shut up!! I hate you! You never do anything for me! You never anything but mock me! I'm nothing to you, and I hate it!" 

"Shinji I.. you're not nothing to me. I love you" 

"Wh.. What? No you don't!" 

"I do, I always have, and always will. Whether you will accept me or not" 

"But I...but you.. No! You're lying! As usual!" 

Asuka leans in and kisses Shinji on the mouth. 

Rrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiinnngg 

'That was the alarm. And from that I conclude this is a dream. Another words that was not reality. So that did not happen.' 

Ikari Shinji hits the alarm to turn it off. He quickly showers and begins to make breakfast. It was a disturbing dream, but a mere dream nonetheless. Today was a big day. And a dream would not trouble him. Even if it was of Asuka. 

-------------- 

"Ohayo, Misato-san" 

"Ohayo, Shinji-kun, is breakfast ready?" Misato says as she walks toward the refrigerator 

"Just about" Shinji replies as he sets plates and utensils on the table, "Where's Asuka?" 

Misato opens her can of Yebisu and simply replies "Shower" before taking a huge gulp from her can of beer.

"YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAH!!!" Misato yells "Now that is how to start a day!" 

"You know, someday all this is going to catch up with you. It can't be healthy to live like you do" Shinji says and sits down at the table. 

"Oh, leave me be. Who are you to change my way of life" Misato says.

Shinji just let's it go. Of course, he wasn't expecting an "Oh your absolutely right, I better stop drinking as of now". But he figured maybe some day, she would make amends and lead a healthier life. 

"Baka-Shinji, haven't you learned that our guardian is a hopeless alcoholic by now? Why do you even bother" Asuka says upon entering the room. She was dressed in her school uniform. 

"Asuka, uh... you're going to school today?" Misato asks looking a bit taken back. 

"Of course I am" She says "I don't have any tests or anything today do I?" 

"Well no, but.." Misato sort of trails off. Shinji, finishing his breakfast stands up. 

"Gochisousama" He says and brings his plates to the sink and begins rinsing them. Asuka soon finishes her breakfast as well and goes to her room to get her bag. Misato sighs and looks over at Shinji who was walking toward the table. 

"Shinji-kun.." She starts but Shinji interrupts her. 

"Don't worry about it" Shinji says as grabs Asuka's plate and cup and brings it to the sink, "It doesn't matter, it's no big deal anyway"

Asuka comes out of her room with her bag and walks to the door. 

"Ittekimasu" Asuka says and walks out the door. Shinji and Misato reply in unison 

"Ittelashai" 

------------

"Well, it was great being your guardian" Misato says, a tear in her eye. 

"Misato-san, your talking as if I'm dying. I'll come back after two months" Shinji replies. 

"I still don't understand how your father could do this to you" 

"My guess is that I make him uneasy and he has the power to get rid of me, so he will."

"But your loss... how about the Eva 1? Who's going to pilot?" 

"I'm guessing that's why he is only banishing me for two months." 

"He's not banishing you...." Misato said. 

Shinji somewhat stares at Misato before turning to leave into the train station. He was to take the train to the plane and the plane to Germany. Misato sighs and begins her speech that Ritsuko had told her to give Shinji 

"Your actions will be restricted. They will be watched closely by the personnel of the Nerv Division in Germany. Although you yourself are no longer part of Nerv for the next two months, you still will not have much freedom. You are to attend school in Germany and German will be taught to you if you require it." Here Misato paused to let Shinji answer. 

"I don't require it" Shinji replied after a moment. He would figure things out. Right now he just wanted to be alone. No German Tutor, No Misato, No Angels... just himself and his thoughts. Misato curiously looked at Shinji for she was sure the boy did not speak German but decided to continue. 

"When you arrive a car will be waiting for you which will take you to your temporary apartment. Your luggage will be there waiting for you. You will start school two days after you arrive. More information will be given after you arrive. Questions?" 

"No" Shinji replies instantly this time. 

"Very well then, have a safe trip Third Children." Misato said as she salutes and then adds. "Come back Shinji-kun..." 

Shinji gives her a halfhearted fake smile and then heads toward the station. 

---------- 

"Ikari, this is dangerous. He was necessary, how will we move the Eva 1?" 

Fuyutsuki says standing behind Ikari Gendou's desk. 

"Rei, or the dummy plug." 

"But...." 

"If we had gotten rid of him for good we could have picked a suitable pilot" 

"I would much rather just keep the third children. He makes a good pilot." 

"He puts in danger everyone when he pilots. He is not stable." 

"He will be back after two months. He has nothing to do but think, he will stabilize" 

"We will see" 

------------------- 

My Rants: Well first of all I'll try to follow the main plot. I'm thinking about what I am going to do with angels, I might follow the real order, I might not, I might make some up, etc. And the whole Shinji-Rei of Shinj-Asuka thing I'm not sure about. Personally I'm more of a Asuka fan but we will see. 

Ittekimasu - Literally it's "I'm going" but people usually say it when they leave home as a sort of good bye. 

Ittelashai - An answer to Ittekimasu. It would be what the people home would say to the person leaving. 

Gochisousama - An expression you say when you finish a meal. Itadakimasu is said when you start a meal. 

Ohayo - Good morning 


	2. Shinji Is Gone

A/N: Alright redid this chapter. Not many changes, a few spelling errors, some minor scenes.

Shinji Is Gone

"Hey Soryu!" Toji calls to Asuka when she enters. Toji and Kensuke walk toward her. Asuka who was about to walk towards Hikari turns the other way and sees the two stooges walking toward her. She gives them an unimpressed look and replies 

"What?" 

"Do you know what happened to Shinji? He hasn't been here for a week." Kensuke asks. 

The question seems to take Asuka by surprise but she quickly responds "I don't know" and storms off to the front of the class where she engages in conversation with Hikari. 

"What does she mean, she doesn't know.... They live together" Toji says as he and Kensuke walk back towards their seats.

----------- 

Ayanami Rei stood on the roof of her school. She was looking at the sky. Nature always helped her when she was thinking. It seemed to clear her mind. She did not know exactly why she was thinking these thoughts in her head, but she was. Thoughts of the Third Children. '

'Was it right that he was forced to leave the area and sent to Germany? It would only be for a couple of months. But why would he say those things? Did he not know that it would get him into further trouble? People should just follow orders.' 

The opening and closing of the door behind her interrupted her thoughts. 

"Ayanami?" Toji said in an uneasy voice. 

Rei turned around with the same emotionless mask on her face. 

"Uh... you wouldn't happen to know what happened to Shinji would you?" Kensuke asked looking almost apologetic. 

"Pilot Ikari was relocated to Germany for two months and will be returning by the end of December" Rei replies. 

"Oh.. well uh... thanks" Toji says as he and Kensuke both leave rather quickly. Rei turns around back to the sky and starts thinking again.

----------- 

Rei and Asuka both had Synch Tests scheduled after school today. Although having the same destination, They went their separate ways seeing each other only when absolutely necessary. Asuka walked toward the lockeroom. She had waited long enough, Rei would already be changed and heading to her plug. She would have something to say, but she would not say it. She would just let the silence do her talking and Asuka could not stand that. She walked into the lockeroom and got changed. 

----------- 

"Good work both of you" Misato's words conclude the tests. Rei and Asuka walk toward the lockerooms. Asuka deals with her presence. They enter the lockeroom in silence, go to their respective lockers, and begin to change. 

"Aren't you going to blame me?" Asuka says angrily after she no longer can take the silence. 

Rei continues to change and responds "For what?" 

"For that baka leaving." 

"That was Pilot Ikari's own fault" 

"Spare me the pity!" 

"I don't have pity" Rei says and then adds "Good-bye" as she walks out of the lockeroom. 

Asuka, having finished changing sits down on one of the benches. After a moment she too walks out of the locker rooms and heads toward the entrance. She would have to go home on her own because Misato had things to take care of at headquarters. She decided she would take her time going home. 

----------

'It was his own fault. I didn't ask him to do anything. I know it was his fault. So why is that doll telling me! I already know that! Ugh!' 

Asuka had reached the apartment. She took the elevator up and walked to the apartment she now shared with only Misato and Pen-pen. She got her card key and went in. Pen-pen was nowhere in sight. He was probably in his "room" (It's more like just a small refrigerator). Asuka went to her room to put her bag down. She had to go to headquarters straight from school so she ended up carrying her school bag around all day. She sighed and walked back to the living room. 

"What the hell it's too quiet!" she says to no one in particular. She then sits on the couch and turns on the TV. She turned to some random channel. It didn't matter, she wanted the TV for company not entertainment. She appeared to be watching the TV blankly but in her head, she never stopped thinking. 'I wonder what that baka is doing....'

---------- 

'The object is to capture the angel. Alrighty Asuka, this is no problem' 

"Asuka can you hear me?" The voice of Misato can be heard in Asuka's entry plug. 

"Loud and clear" Asuka replies, somewhat cheerfully. 

'With Shinji gone, this is my chance to prove myself. I'm better than Shinji, and I don't need him to defeat the angels' she thinks to herself. 

"The angel is not at it's estimated location, we're going to go deeper" 

"Fine with me" Asuka replies to Misato once again.

... ... ... ... 

"I see it" Asuka could see the angel. 

'Now all I have to do is catch it' She thinks to herself. 

"Your both moving to the flow of the magma so you will only have one chance to capture it" Ritsuko says to Asuka. 

'Another words, no pressure' Asuka thinks to herself. Eva 2 successfully captures the angel. Asuka breathes a sigh of relief as she begins to be pulled back up to the top of the volcano.

-----------------

"You were nervous about this mission weren't you?" Ritsuko says to her friend.

"A bit" Misato says, and then says to Asuka "There's a hot springs nearby, we can go take a nice hot bath"

"Thank god" Asuka says happily, "I'm sweating like a pig, it's so hot! I can't wait to- Wha.. What's going on!?"

"What's happening?" Misato asks.

"Is it awakening? It's faster than expected" Ritsuko says. 

"The cage?" Misato asks Hyuuga. 

"It won't hold" was the simple answer given to her. 

"Asuka, dump the cage!" Misato says and Asuka readily complies. The angel descends a few feet but then breaks out of the cage. It then sets it's eyes on the Eva 2. 

"All right, Asuka, change of plans. You have to destroy it." Misato says to Asuka. 

"That's what I've been waiting for!" Asuka says enthusiastically as she prepares for battle. 

"If we can lure it out of the molten lava we can have both Eva 0 and Eva 2 attack it simultaneously." Ritsuko suggests to Misato but is overheard by Asuka. 

"No way, don't even think about it, I got this one!" Asuka says as the angel charges at her. 

Eva 2 dodges out of the way but the angel quickly turns and comes back. It rams itself into the Eva 2 but Asuka tugs the controls and grabs the angel with one hand and stabs the prog knife into it. 

"It's no use, if it can survive under these extreme temperatures, the prog knife isn't going to penetrate it's skin." Asuka continues to stab at the angel while she looks around for another idea. She sees the hoses attached to her and gets an idea. She takes one of them and jams it into the angel. 

"I see, thermal expansion" Ritsuko says catching on. Misato, also catches on and orders to use only the 3rd hose. Asuka than stabs the Angel which is killed by before it sinks to the bottom of the volcano, it attempts to take the Eva 2 with it. It claws above the Eva and rips some of the bonds that hold the Eva 2 to the crane above. Asuka lets out a sigh of relief when the angel dies but is aware of what it did with it's last ditch effort. 

She closes her eyes and says to herself "I won, and I proved myself but now this is the end."

She could imagine the look on Shinji's face when he gets back. 

'He would be the best pilot' She thinks 'he's stupid but I doubt he would lose to that doll... And me... I would be the one that died trying... He will probably laugh at me. All my conceited remarks, all my insults, all my taunts and I go down first" She feels the Eva lurch as it is about to fall. Asuka braces herself. 

'No, you wouldn't laugh baka. You would be sorry and feel bad and somehow twist it around so it's your fault. You would...' Asuka laughs at the thought 'You would say you were sorry' 

At last the hoses give way and the Eva 2 starts to sink, but a hand comes down and grabs the Eva 2. Asuka opens her eyes in surprise and looks up. She is relieved and angry at the same time as she mutters "Wondergirl.."

---------

Rei, Asuka, and Misato were all bathing in a hot springs. Misato held her promise and took the girls to a hot springs.

"Ahh, that's relaxing" Misato says.

"Expecially after a nice sauna in a volcano" Asuka says.

Misato laughs and looks over at Rei. She was sitting against a wall. She was lifting her hand and watchin the warm water run down them.

"Come on, you have to be enjoying this" Asuka says to Rei.

"It feels....nice" Rei says.

"Too bad you missed out on the sauna" Misato says smiling.

Asuka smiles but Rei maintains her emotionless face which causes Asuka to frown. She then sits deeper in the water so it is now covering her shoulders, and closes her eyes.

-----------

"Hey Ayanami" Shinji says as he walks up to the bench at which Rei is sitting. Rei looks up from her reading. It was lunch and she usually spent her lunch period reading. 

"Uh... did you hear? I'm being sent away" Shinji says nervously. 

"Yes, I was informed, but you will return after two months." 

"Yeah...right. So uh... what are you reading?" 

"I'm just reviewing school work" Rei responds. 

"Oh...um.. Are you mad at me?" 

"Why would I be?" 

"You know, for what I did. For threatening my father and endangering everyone" 

The usually monotoned emotionless girl seems to somewhat think about this question before answering "No". 

They are both silent for a while, but Shinji does not turn to leave and Rei does not go back to reading. 

"Can you do me a favor?" Shinji asks after a while. 

"A favor?" Rei asks quizzically. 

"Yeah a favor" Shinji says somewhat confused by Rei's reaction. 

"What is a favor?" Rei asks after a bit of silence. 

"Uh..well..." Shinji had not expected this "Well it's sort of an order but you don't have to do it." Shinji said knowing that Rei would know the meaning of an order well. "I'm asking you to do something, that you don't necessarily have to do, but it would be nice if you did." 

"Nice...." Rei says, obviously confused.

"Err... I would appreci.... It would make me happy if you did it" Shinji says. 

"Your requesting something of me that would please you, and I do not have to comply, correct?" Rei confirms somewhat understanding it. 

"Right" 

"So what is your request?" 

"Well...." Shinji says nervously shifting his weight "Could you... look out for Asuka?" 

Shinji figured that Rei had no idea what he was talking about. He was about to elaborate but Rei replied "In the event that Pilot Soryu is in need of assistance, I would be ordered to do so" 

"I know but... well I mean..." Shinji paused and thought 'This isn't going to work' 

"Never mind Ayanami" Shinji said "Forget I mentioned it" Shinji turns to walk away but stops when he hears Rei ask him 

"If the favor is to assist Pilot Soryu than why would it please you?" Shinji turns around not knowing how to answer this. "It would seem more natural if it was Pilot Soryu who was asking this of me" Rei adds surprising the already surprised Shinji. Rei was being somewhat talkative. 

"Actually I don't think Asuka would ever ask that from anyone" was Shinji's reply. 

"But then-" Rei starts but is interrupted. 

"Ayanami, don't think into it. Just take it as it is and see what you do with it." Shinji says. 

Rei just stares at him. 

"Do me a favor and look out for Asuka while I'm gone" Shinji says. 

Rei nods which causes Shinji to smile and says "Thank you" Rei feels something warm inside her when she sees Shinji smiles. Confused as to what that feeling is and what to do she gives him a smile in return. 

-------------- 

My Rants Well, there it is. Now I have a few questions if anyone would answer them, it would be appreciated. First of all what does Prog in Prog Knife stand for? Progressive? Second, does anyone know the Synchro rates of the pilots? All I know Shinji is slightly past 40 when he first pilots. Oh and also at some point he was 50 below Asuka.Thirdly... damn I forgot. Whatever I'll ask it later. lol I just remembered it. Hah, I know to you it doesn't seem like any time went by but for me it's been two days. Anyway, does anyone know where Asuka is from specifically? Oh one important thing. I decided to change the angels around a little. First of all, the reason why Shinji was sent away. I was gonna make it something to do with the battle with Israfel (you know the one that splits in two) but I realized that was the reason Asuka and Shinji lived together so I can't change that. So I'm gonna add an angel between Israfel and this one (The lava one). I hope no one minds. 

Thanks everyone for the reviews! About pairings, again, I'm more of an Asuka fan, but we'll see.


	3. Cause And Consequence

A/N: Alrite I redid this one too, it was already in html but it had some spelling and grammar problems. Also, I translated the German.

Cause and Consequence

"He will not return" Gendo says to Fuyutsuki 

"I told you he will stabilize himself" "

He will not return to pilot his Eva after he is reminded of what a simple life is like"

"Ikari... He will not do that" 

"And if he does" 

"......We will select a new pilot" 

"It would have been more efficient to do so when he left instead of delaying it for two months" 

"You do not know for sure what will happen" 

"We will see"

---------------- 

"That baka... he's not coming back, is he?" Misato looks up from her dinner. Unsurprisingly, nothing on the table required any knowledge of cooking to make. 

"Well, I never thought you cared so much about him" Misato replies. 

Asuka laughs "Please, if he doesn't come back it will be easier to fight since he won't drag me down" 

"A new pilot will be selected" Misato says, going back to her food. 

"So he isn't coming back" 

"In the event that he doesn't, a new pilot will be selected" 

"Whatever, I don't care anyway" Asuka says and goes back to eating.

'Then why did you ask' Misato thinks to herself but decides not to say anything. 

---------- 

That night Asuka lies in bed unable to sleep. Thoughts raced through her head. Shinji saving her, Angels, piloting.... Rei saving her... Asuka angrily throws her pillow against he desk which hits a lamp, knocking it over. 

"Verdammt" she whispers to herself, "What's wrong with me?" She began to think of how Shinji had saved her.

The "blood" of Eva 2 was splattered across the mountain. The ruthless angel continued to attack it as the Eva lay helpless on the mountain. It's leg had been torn off and was unable to stand. 

"Eva 1 retreat now" The voice of Ikari Gendo could be heard in Shinji's entry plug. 

"What? But Asuka is-" Shinji starts but is interrupted 

"I don't care, we cannot risk having two evas that are unable to combat" 

"But Asuka will be-" 

"Pilot Soryu's entry plug will be ejected" 

"And if the angel gets to it?" 

".... Shinji, retreat now" 

"No...." Shinji says in a barely audible voice. 

"What did you say?!" Gendo shouts. 

"No!" Shinji practically yells and charges at the angel. 

"If you do not retreat we will cut off all connections between you and Eva 1" Gendo says. 

"If you do, this eva will be destroyed" Shinji says with a hint of nervousness, "And if you try to stop me from saving Asuka, I'll....I'll destroy the headquarters!" 

Maya, Makoto and Shigeru all look at Gendo for an order. Gendo just sits still in silence. Asuka grits her teeth to stop from yelling. Or crying. Or screaming. Or...Smiling? 

_"If you try to stop me from saving Asuka, I'll destroy headquarters"_

----------- 

Shinji had finally gotten out of the airport. He had never been to Germany before. Actually he had never been most places before. He surveys the area. It doesn't tell him much since all he sees are airplanes and terminals. He finds a car waiting for him and he gets in. To his surprise Kaji is sitting next to him. 

"Hello Shinji-kun" Kaji says smiling. 

"uh..Hello Kaji-san" Shinji says surprised 

"Vereini, between Hof and Kammern" Kaji tells the driver who begins to drive. 

"What are you doing in Germany Kaji-san? I thought you were going to be in Japan for a while." 

"I had so unfinished business to do here. And I heard you were coming to Germany so I decided to meet you here." 

"I see" Shinji says with a somewhat grim look on his face. "I know what your thinking, and your wrong" 

"Huh?" Shinji says. 

"I'm not here to keep an eye on you or anything. Nerv Headquarters in Germany will take care of that. I'm just here to see my friend" Kaji says, still smiling. 

"Oh, no that's not what I was thinking. I wouldn't mind if you were keeping an eye on me. I know it is necessary" Shinji says and then looks out the window. Kaji sensing that the boy did not feel like talking decides to spend the rest of the car ride in silence. 

----------- 

Shinji sat in his apartment. It was a simple, one room apartment with a bathroom and small kitchen. A table to eat, a refrigerator, and a bed had been provided for him. He had brought one suitcase of clothes and that was about it. Kaji had told him that there was a Laundromat on the next block where he could do his laundry. He had also offered to stick around but Shinji had declined his offer. He wanted to be alone. He began to think. First about what he had just seen. Germany seemed to be very lively. He had passed many restaurants and stores on the way here. He decided he would have a look around the city tomorrow since he had to buy some things anyway. He would have to go the school the day after tomorrow so he only had one day to get everything he needed. Shinji sighed and decided to just relax for now. He got his SDAT player and plugged it into an AC adapter to charge it. He then laid down on his bed and started thinking about Japan. About Evas, Nerv, and about his Father. 

---------

"Why the hell did you save me, Wondergirl!" Asuka yelled at Rei who continued to change out of her plug suit. 

"I'm asking you a question!" Asuka yelled again when it seemed Rei was not responding. 

"I was doing a favor" Rei said, emotionless as usual. 

This comment enraged Asuka beyond belief. "You! YOU, were doing ME a favor!?" Asuka yelled "You must be kidding me! I don't want any favors from a doll like you!" 

"I-" Rei started but Asuka wasn't done. Asuka interrupted Rei with as she laughed maniacally. "How degrading! I guess I owe you a favor now, eh wondergirl!" 

"I was fulfilling my favor to Ikari-kun" Rei said quietly after noting that Asuka was finished. 

This took Asuka by surprise "...What?" She asked, her voice back to normal. 

Rei had finished changing and was ready to leave. "I said I was fulfilling my favor to Ikari-kun" Rei then turned to leave but Asuka stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. 

"And what favor would this happen to be?" Asuka asked her voice and anger rising.

Rei looked into Asuka's eyes while pondering whether or not it was necessary to share this information with Asuka. She decided no one had told her not to so she did. "Ikari-kun asked me to look out for you" Rei said and then added "Good-bye" and left the lockeroom.

Asuka stood there in silence for a minute and then began to change. She could not help but smile from time to time but as soon as the smile appeared she would mentally kick herself. She heads for the door and then stops right in front of it. She then closes here eyes, and gathers her thoughts. As she walks out she mutters "I'm going to kill him..." Asuka opens her eyes.

------

It had been one of the most tiring days in Shinji's life, yet he accomplished close to nothing. At first the day had started out okay. He had be ready by 10:00 am but figured all the stores were not open yet so he waited until 11 to go out. Kaji had given him some German money. He lived a block from what was considered a main street, where many stores were aligned side by side. He saw the Laundromat that Kaji was talking about and took not of where it was located. He then continued to wander looking around at stores for a hint of books but to no avail. By 3 pm he was tired, hungry and had accomplished nothing. Deciding he was too hungry to go on, he wandered into a random restaurant and ate lunch. After lunch he continued to wander and still saw no signs of school supplies. He then decided to try to ask for directions. 

"Do you know where I can find a German Japanese dictionary?" Shinji asked an old man. 

"Was darf es sein?" The old man asked in a questioning manner. 

"G-e-r-m-a-n D-i-c-t-i-o-n-a-r-y" Shinji says slower. 

"Das tut nicht hilfe" The old man says.

Shinji, giving up, just bows his head and walks away. Leaving the confused old man behind. 

He decides to go back home since this was going nowhere but on his way he sees a supermarket. 

'I guess I'll need some food' Shinji thinks and walks in. He buys what he needs and then continues walking toward his home.

------ 

My Rants 

Alrite well I redid this chapter in html because the italics thing wasn't working for me. I think it works now. From now on everything will be in html. All right, thanks for the reviews!

Verdammt - Damnit

Was darf es sein - Can I help you?

Das tut nicht hilfe - That doesn't help


	4. Katharina Hedwig

A/N: Alright I got this chapter. I fixed the spelling errors and I translated the German.

Katharina Hedwig

Ikari Gendo's office. It always seemed somewhat "dark" in here. Gendo sat behind the desk and Fuyutsuki stood next to him. Both of them were looking at a blonde haired woman. 

"She is a good candidate for a replacement" Ritsuko says looking over some sort of report. 

"Has she been informed?" Fuyutsuki asks. 

"No, I will wait until we are certain that the Third Children will not return" Ritsuko says. 

"Very well, that will be all" Fuyutsuki says. 

"Inform her now" Gendo says as Ritsuko begins to leave. Ritsuko looks at Gendo and then at Fuyutsuki. 

"Ikari..." Fuyutsuki starts but decides that he can't talk Gendo out of this one. 

"Inform her now" Gendo says again and then adds, "I will leave the rest up to you"

Ritsuko replies "Very well, I will have her informed immediately. 

------- 

The sky was dark. But as you approach the city, it almost seemed like day due to the bright lights of the buildings. Within one of the buildings two people had recently finished dinner One was coming out of the shower. 

"He's coming back tomorrow" Misato says to no one in particular as she sips her beer and watches the TV from her couch. 

It had been a hard two months. The apartment, although it no longer looked like an apartment, lay in ruins. Trash was everywhere. Misato was too lazy to clean it, and Asuka would not clean any part of the house except her room. 

"He's supposed to come back tomorrow, you know he won't" Asuka says, walking out of the shower, although the statement was not meant to be heard by her. 

"And what makes you think he won't come?" Misato asks, not looking away from the TV. 

"You know what I think. And you know that you think the same thing. He hates piloting. I frankly don't understand it. He should take so much pride in it. You know, there are lots of people who would die to pilot." 

"But Shinji-kun doesn't take pride in it" Misato says in a confirming manner. 

"Right, and when he's reminded of how much he enjoys a simple life, he won't come back" Asuka says and then adds "I mean why would he?" 

"So your positive he won't come back?" Misato asks. 

"Right. And also, Germany is the best place in the world to live." Asuka replies, almost smiling. 

"Well, whatever you think" Misato says and turns her attention back to the TV. Asuka dries her hair and walks into her room.

'Two months and no phone call' Asuka starts to think as soon as she is in the privacy of her room 'He's obviously enjoying himself or he would have called to whine about how much he hates it' Asuka continues to think but eventually falls asleep. 

-------- 

Darkness covers everything. Nothing can be seen, but two figures. One standing, one sitting. 

"I hate you!" 

"Understandable, I'm sorry" 

"No! You're not sorry. You're never sorry!" 

"I am, truly. I'm so sor-" 

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!!! You're not sorry! Shut up!! I hate you! You never do anything for me! You never anything but mock me! I'm nothing to you, and I hate it!"

"Shinji I.. you're not nothing to me. I love you" 

"Wh.. What? No you don't!" 

"I do, I always have, and always will. Whether you will accept me or not" 

"But I...but you.. No! You're lying! As usual!" Shinji's eyes open wide in surprise as Asuka leans in and kisses him on the mouth.

rrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiinnngg That was an alarm. And therefore that was a dream. Shinji woke up and turned the alarm off. He then proceeded to the shower. Today he had to go to school.

----------- 

"Guten Morgen, wir haben heute einen neuen MitschŸler" a middle aged woman said to the class.

Shinji looks around the classroom at all the students. He had been unsuccessful in finding a German Japanese dictionary, and therefore had no idea what the teacher was saying. 

"Ikari Shinji, setzte dich bitte neben Katharina" Obviously, from her tone, she was asking Shinji to do something.

'My guess is that she is telling me to sit somewhere.' Shinji thinks, 'but where?' 

"Katharina hebe bitte die hand" The teacher says. 

Shinji, thinking the teacher is talking to him looks back at the teacher but sees that she is looking somewhere else. He follows her gaze and sees a girl raising her hand with an empty seat behind her and to the left of her.. 

'She probably wants me to sit there' he thinks and begins to walk toward the girl, 'But which seat' Shinji was occasionally looking over at the teacher to see if she had some sort of "What's wrong with this kid?" face. Shinji was now almost in front of the girl. Now here was a problem.

'Which desk..' he constantly thought looking from one at another as he continued walking. He then saw the girl smile at him and point at the seat behind her. Shinji sighed in relief and then sat down behind her. As he was about to get settled he saw everyone staring at him. The teacher made a cough-like noise and Shinji looked up at her. She was pointing at the other desk. Shinji now a shade of bright red stood up and sat down at the other seat. He looked straight down at his desk in embarrassment and, after a few giggles, class started. 

The other students start taking out their laptops from their bags. Shinji panics for a moment but then sees something in his desk. He reaches for it and finds a laptop, much like the one he used in Japan. He opens it and turns it on. He finds it's exactly the same except for one thing, it was in German. Immediately he receives a few message that all say "Wo kommst du her?" 

He deducts that it must be a question, but that is as far as he can get. 'It's probably something like 'Are you an idiot?' Oh well it's not like I can answer anyway' Shinji thinks as he closes the messages. 

He then comes across one that is written in Japanese. "Use the menu bar in the top right corner to change the language the computer uses, Shinji-kun" 

Shinji first looks around the room for any signs of a Japanese face but sees none. He then goes, as instructed, to the menu and finds many different flags. He clicks the Japanese flag and to his relief he can now understand what the computer says. Unfortunately, the messages being sent to him are still in German. 

"You also use that to choose what language you type in" Another message from the same person. 

He decides he should say something back so he replies. "Thank you" 

"No problem, you don't speak German do you?" 

"Well no, could you tell me what Wo kommst du her means?" Shinji types. Again he looks around the room to see if he could figure out who he was talking to. The whole class was typing notes and messages so he couldn't. Shinji sighs and looks back at his computer ad sees another message. 

"It means where are you from, reply der Japanlack" Shinji does this many times, since many people are asking him but soon the messages cease and he is looking at only one message window. 

"Do you want me to teach you German?" was the next message he received, from the same person. Shinji thinks about this for a moment. Of course he wanted him or her to teach him but he didn't want to cause problems for anyone. He could probably manage. He would get his dictionary soon anyway. 

"No, that's okay" Shinji replies and closes the window. 

After what seemed like an eternity the lunch bell rang and the students hastily closed their laptops and walked out of the room. It seems school is still boring even if it is in another language. Shinji also closes his laptop but as he got up the girl next to him began talking to him. "Wow, du bist sŸb. Warum gehen wir nicht zu mir und springen in die Kiste?" 

Shinji looks at the girl. She was very pretty to say the least. Long blonde hair and blue eyes. She was about his height. Shinji could feel himself getting nervous talking to such a beautiful girl. Well, not exactly talking.... 'Great now I can look like an idiot to this beautiful girl who was actually trying to talk to me' 

"Uh....well...I'm sorry" Shinji says as he quickly turns to leave the room, but the girl says "Wait Shinji-kun". Shinji continues walking as fast as he can when he suddenly realizes that he heard Japanese. He turns around and sees the girl smiling mischievously. 

"Wha..what?" Shinji says somewhat startled.

"See, don't you wanna learn German so you know when a pretty girl like me is hitting on you?" the girl says still smiling.

"Oh, your the one that was-" 

"Talking to you, yes that's right" She finishes for him, 

"I'm Katharina Hedwig, but you can call me Kat" 

"Oh I'm-" 

"Shinji Ikari, I know. The teacher told us, not that you would now" 

Shinji turns somewhat red remembering his stupidity but then realizes who had caused it. 

"So, do you want me to teach you German?" Katharina asks. 

"No. Why did you do that to me?" Shinji asks glaring at Katharina.

"Oh, come on. It was funny" Katharina says cheerfully.

"Maybe to you" Shinji says still glaring.

"Alright, I'm sorry and to repay you, I'll teach you German"

"No, I don't need your-"

"Alright then! Let's go to the cafeteria. I'll teach you while we eat" She says interrupting Shinji as she drags him toward the cafeteria.

-------- 

Yeah that's it.

My Rants 

So yeah, I had more, but I realized it didn't fit right here so I will put it in a later chapter so this one got shorter. Well, please review. Oh and thank you Mastermage for the German translations. Oh also, if any one really feels like it, I'm looking for opinions about the End Of Evangelion. I'm not gonna use it for anything, I don't feel like making a site or anything like that. I just want a different perspective because I can only think of two things it could mean. And I KNOW there are a lot more than that. Well anyway, no one has to, just if your bored. (I'm too lazy for message boards. lol)

And as usual I have a question. What the deal with the movies? I heard think there are three? But does anyone know whats on which movie and etc? 

Guten Morgen, wir haben heute einen neuen MitschŸler - Good morning class, today we have a new student

setzte dich bitte neben - Please sit next to...

hebe bitte die Hand - Please raise your hand

Wo kommst du her? - Where are you from?

der Japanlack - Japan

Wow, du bist sŸb. Warum gehen wir nicht zu mir und springen in die Kiste? - (Something along the lines of) Wow your cute. Why don't you and me go make some sweet love


	5. Shinji In Deutschland

A/N: All right I fixed spelling, hey did you guys no suprised is spelled surprised? 

Shinji In Deutschland

Now this was a busy part of town to say the least. It was almost a small city within a city. Each block was lined with buildings with various places to shop, eat, entertain, etc. No one seemed to live in this part of town since there wasn't much when it came to residential areas. Shinji just stared in awe as Katharina dragged him around telling him everything she knew about this place. 

"It's called Einkaufszentrum but everyone just calls it Einkauf. It's pretty much open 24 hours since there's always someplaces that are open" Katharina said cheerfully as she dragged Shinji into a building labeled "Books".It was three floors high. The first and second floor was a huge bookstore and the third was a coffee shop and lounge. 

Katharina stopped for a moment to talk to one of the people who worked there. And then turned around and continued to drag Shinji up the stairs. 

"He said they have tons of Dictionaries on the second floor, section E" Katharina says to Shinji over her shoulder. 

"You know you don't have to drag me, I can walk on my own" Shinji says. 

"Oh but I wouldn't want my poor little non-German speaking Japanese boyfriend to be lost all alone, now would I?" Katharina said teasingly which caused Shinji to go red. 

"S..S..Since w..when am I y..y.your bo..boyfriend?" Shinji manages to stutter, not hiding his embarrassment. 

Katharina just laughed as she started walking slower. So now it was more like Shinji walking alongside Katharina with his hand in hers. Shinji, was relieved that he was no longer being dragged and sighed but then realized he was getting quite a few dirty looks from other guys. He then notices how his hand. 

"Uh..Katharina?" Shinji says. "Call me Kat" Katharina says as she heads to section E. 

"Well, Kat, I was wondering if you're aware that practically every guy wants to kill me right about now for holding your hand, so if you wouldn't mind....." 

"Oh I see, so your too good to be thought of as my boyfriend eh?" Katharina says with false anger that Shinji does not see through. 

"Uh no no no, I was.. just" Shinji says slowing down unsure of what to say. 

"I'm joking, I'm joking" Katharina says as she drops Shinji's hand. She is smiling again, "Here we are" Shinji looks up and sees a few bookshelves filled with translating dictionaries. While Shinji just stares, Katharina starts looking for a German-Japanese one. 

"Here" Katharina says as she hands a book to Shinji. 

"Huh? Oh thanks" Shinji says taking the dictionary. 

"So, what else do you need?" And Shinji's day shopping continued in this manner.

--------

"My god I have never been so tired in my life!" Katharina exclaims. Shinji was walking next to her with a big bag holding everything he had bought today. Katharina had purchased some clothes, which she was holding in her own bag. The two of them had just gotten off the train and were both heading to their respective homes. 

"So do you think you got everything?" Katharina asks Shinji. 

"Well, I don't know. I hope so" Shinji says. 

"Now that's not optimistic" Katharina says smiling, as usual. 

Shinji gives her a weak smile and continues walking. 

"So...." Katharina says after a while, "Your an Eva pilot right?" 

Shinji looks at her in surprise as he says "How did you kno-" 

"I know a lot of things" Katharina interrupts. Shinji doesn't know what to say, so he continues walking. Katharina walks next to him looking at his face in an adoring manner. 

"What is it like?" Katharina asks, still smiling. 

"Huh?" 

"To pilot an Eva. What is it like?" Shinji remains silent for a while thinking about the question. Katharina just waits patiently. 

"It's horrible" He finally replies, "It adds a new twist in my life that I didn't want." Katharina sees the grim look on Shinji's face and decides not to pursue the question. They soon reach to Katharina's house which is closer to the train station then Shinji's apartment. 

"Are you sure you don't wanna have dinner here?" Katharina asks Shinji. 

"I'm sure" Shinji replies. 

"You know technically I just asked you out and you rejected me" Katharina says. 

Shinji knew better than to take her seriously by now. "Well, I guess you're not my type" 

Katharina laughs and says "Now that's impossible, I'm everyone's type" 

"Don't be too conceited" Shinji says.

"Whatever, now come have dinner" Katharina says. 

"Not today, maybe another time" 

"I'm gonna hold you one that" 

"All right, well see you in school then" 

"Okay, bye" Katharina says as she waves. Shinji walks home recounting the days events. He can't help but smile as he thinks of Katharina. 'She never stops smiling' he thinks, 'It's like she doesn't know what sadness is' 

-------

"I...I....please accept this!" she says as she holds out an envelope which Shinji accepts. The girl then runs from the roof down the stairs vanishing from Shinji's sight. Shinji scratches his head as he opens the envelope to find, to no surprise, a letter. He briefly skimmed it noticing sentences such as "I have always loved you" and "I hope you feel the same" blah blah. Shinji sighs. 

This had been the fourth girl who had "always loved him" in the past week. Word had gotten out that Shinji was an Eva pilot and ever since he had become quite popular among guys and girls. But especially girls. He walked down the stairs. It was lunch and he saw groups of students sitting or standing together enjoying their lunch. He walked into the noisy cafeteria and spotted Katharina. He went to sit with her. 

"So, what was that about?" 

"Love letter'" Shinji replies simply as he begins to eat his lunch. 

"I see" Katharina says and then sees Shinji eating, "How about a 'thank you Mistress Kat for graciously getting my lunch'?" 

"Thank you" Shinji says smiling. 

"You forgot the... eh whatever" Katharina says shrugging, "So what are you donna do?" 

"About what?" Shinji asks continuing to eat. 

"About the letter, are you going to date her? She was pretty cute." 

"She already thinks that we are going out" 

"Really? How do you know?" 

"It said in the letter. 'I hope you can let your feelings for Kat go'." 

"Wow what a bitch, she's trying to steal my man!" Kat says playfully. 

"Kat..." 

"Hey, you already told three girls, and it's obvious that they told a bunch of people" 

"You said I can use it as an excuse to reject them without remorse" 

"Well, this is a school. Rumors spread like wildfire" 

"And?" 

"And pretty soon the whole school will know the truth about us" 

"Which is?" 

"That we're in looooove" Katharina extends the o in love teasingly. 

"We're not in love or loooooove as you put it" Shinji says, "It's just-" 

"That we're in looooove" Katharina repeats. Shinji sighs in resignation and finishes his food. The past few weeks had been great. He had almost mastered his German thanks to Katharina. Her lessons during lunch and after school were paying off. He had also become quite close to Katharina over. They made a habit of eating together at lunch and going places after school. Movies, shopping, library, museum, arcades, billiards, even swimming at a local pool. Somehow she turned any event into a German lesson. Telling Shinji what the actors were saying in movies, what the names of different clothing companies meant, she picked out easy German books for him to read, etc. Shinji would have kept thinking but he saw Katharina smiling slyly. 

"What?" Shinji asks. 

"I think she wants you to go over" Katharina says as she looks past Shinji at another table. 

Shinji looks over his shoulder and sees the girl who gave him the letter on the roof and two of her friends. The girl was looking hopefully at Shinji and her friends were glaring menacingly at Katharina. 

"I think her friends would rather have you come over" Shinji says to Katharina. 

Katharina laughs as Shinji stands and walks over to them. He engages in conversation for a bit and then says something that makes the girl start crying. She storms out of the cafeteria obviously hurt. Her friends glare at Shinji, then at Katharina, and then they chase their heart broken friend. Shinji then returns to his seat. 

"She was faking it" were the first words out of Katharina's mouth upon Shinji's return. 

"Was she? She seemed to be tearing quite a lot." 

"She can force tears, girls have that skill" Shinji just nods. 

"So what did you tell her?" Katharina asks. "The same thing I told the other girls. That my heart belongs to you and only you." 

Katharina laughs. "I didn't know you knew how to say that in German. Well then, since you so deeply love me, I'm sure you were planning on taking me out to dinner tonight. Right Shinji-kun?" 

Shinji would have objected but this happened to often for him to not know how the argument would turn out. He would say something along the lines of "We're not going out" She would give an example of something they have done in the past which makes it seem like they are a couple. Shinji would find an excuse. The procedure would repeat until the bell rang. They would both get up and walk to class. Upon entering the classroom she would say something like "So tonight a 6" or any other time that was good for her. And Shinji would be stuck since he can no longer argue because class would have started. 

So instead of all that effort, this time Shinji simply said "Fine, when and where?" They had no school the next day anyway, so he didn't have much to do anyway. 

"Meet me at the entrance to Einkauf at 7" Katharina says smiling. 

"Aren't you surprised that I didn't argue?" Shinji asks. 

"Nope, I knew I would wear you down someday" Katharina says. Shinji sighs and the two walk to class together.

----- 

Rei had just gotten home. She opened her door, which was never locked, walked along the floor, that was never cleaned, and into her room. She had been out to eat with Gendo. It went as usual, occasionally talking occasionally silent. It was all usual except one thing. Rei, who had until this point talked to Gendo about most things without lying, had chose to lie. 

_"Is the situation with the Third Children bothering you?" _

_"No, it does not concern me"_

Rei was now lying on her bed. 

'It does concern me' She thought, 'Or does it? I'm not sure. I wouldn't lie to him. I have no reason to.'

She looked up at the glasses of Ikari Gendo. But now, the picture she imagined in her head was not of Gendo, but of Shinji when he had put them on the first time he had come to her house.

'What is this? I don't understand.' Rei whispers to herself as she forces herself to go to sleep.

------

Shinji was not having a bad time. They were in a nice restaurant, somewhat fancy but not overboard. There was a dance floor, nice lighting, candles, music, etc. Katharina was gorgeous. Normally she didn't seem anything past a "cute" girl. Her hair was let down, but it was easily noticeable that she did not care much about it. It usually seemed somewhat messy, but today she had gotten enough will to actually do something to it. It was put up in someway the Shinji could not understand, but she looked beautiful. She wore a yellow dress with a long skirt. Shinji had only been able to stop staring at her moments ago. They had ordered already and Katharina had asked Shinji to dance.

"I...don't dance" 

"Oh come on! You don't expect me to go over there by myself do you?' Katharina says as she tugged on Shinji's hand.

"I told you, I don't dance" Shinji said looking away from Katharina.

"...Don't or can't?" Katharina says with and evil smile.

"I can.......not....." Shinji says looking embarrassed.

"Well, now is an excellent time to learn! You have a dance floor, you have music, and you have the greatest dancer in Germany to teach you." Katharina says, again tugging at Shinji.

"I know you're conceited but the greatest dancer in Germany? Isn't that going a bit far?"

"Well maybe not the greatest, but if it was a teen division, I bet I will win!" 

"You actually dance?" Shinji says, looking shocked.

"Of course! All my conceited comments have some truth to it" Katharina says.

"Wow... Are you really good?"

"Well, I'm okay. I'm good for my age, but if you compare me to really good people I'm nothing."

"How long have you been dancing?"

"I don't know" Katharina replies.

"What?" Shinji has a confused look on his face.

"Honestly I don't remember. I just started sometime." Katharina says. 

"Oh...Do you ever win contests and stuff?" Shinji asks.

"Well, I don't really enter anymore, but when I used to I won quite often" Katharina says.

"I would warn you not to brag but I guess you have a right to in this case. Wow..."

"Are you amazed?"

"Yes"

"Then you should let me teach you!" Katharina says joyfully and smiles.

Shinji just sighs and stands up. Katharina puts her arm around him and the two of them walk toward the dance floor.

--------

Shinji was actually getting this. After what seemed like hours of humility and embarrassment, Shinji looked somewhat like he was moving to the music. He would have quit a long time ago if it weren't for the other dancer's laughter being suppressed by how beautiful his "date" was. Many of the guys would gaze at her for a while and then get a slap in the face by their partners. 

"See, it's easy!" Katharina says.

"Well, I still don't see why this would be fun" Shinji says, but he is smiling.

Katharina laughs and gives Shinji a hug. She then sees a waiter setting their food on the table. She motions Shinji toward the table and they both walk back towards it. 

--------

Katharina was standing in front of her house, Shinji had walked her.

"Well, that was a nice way to spend the evening. Thank you Shinji-kun" Katharina says, she then bows, "You were an excellent dance partner"

"Hey, I'm supposed to bow. You're supposed to do that little fancy lift your skirt up and float thing"

"Float thing?" 

"Well, I don't know what it's called but you know what I'm talking about, in all the movies..."

"Float thing?" Katharina says again as she bursts out in giggles.

Shinji just waits until she is finished and she recomposes herself.

"Well, I mostly lead in the dances, since somebody didn't know how to dance, so I get to be the man today" Katharina says smiling.

"Great add insult to injury"

"Actually it's injury to insult"

"Whatever. Well, I had a good time too" Shinji says, "Bye"

"Wait!" Katharina says. Shinji turns around and is met by a kiss.

At first he is surprised, then nervous, but then realizing it's Katharina, he relaxes. He closes his eyes and decides to enjoy himself.

Afterwards Katharina is smiling. Shinji looks a little embarrassed but is also smiling.

"See you tomorrow" Katharina says.

"But we have no school tomorrow..." Shinji says.

"A bit slow I think" Katharina says. Shinji mentally kicks himself.

"I'll....I'll call you in the morning." Shinji says.

"Alrighty, so I'll be waiting"

"Uh...Bye.."

"Goodnight" Katharina says and Shinji walks down the road toward his house. He had never been happier.

------

Darkness covers everything. Nothing can be seen, but two figures. One standing, one sitting. 

"I hate you!" 

"Understandable, I'm sorry" 

"No! You're not sorry. You're never sorry!" 

"I am, truly. I'm so sor-" 

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!!! You're not sorry! Shut up!! I hate you! You never do anything for me! You never anything but mock me! I'm nothing to you, and I hate it!"

"But I can help you....." A different voice. It was coming from behind Shinji. Katharina wrapped her arms around Shinji's neck.

Asuka disappears as the darkness envelopes her. Shinji turns his head and is staring into Katharina's eyes.

"You can help me?" Shinji asks.

"I'll do more than mock you" She says seductively as she smiles, "I'll do anything for you, your everything to me, and you'll love it"

"I will...."

"You'll love me"

"I will" Shinji says with a serious look in his eyes.

Rrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnng 

'I swear to god, one day I'm going to kill that alarm'

----

"I told you he wasn't coming back!" Asuka shouted, "What a waste of time this was! I can't believe you wasted my day off on waiting for that baka!" 

They were at the airport. Misato had been left in charge of safely returning Shinji from the airport to their home. She had dragged Asuka along since she had a day off school today. Misato just looks toward the gate one last time and seeing as no one else was coming out she turned around and started walking away. 

"Didn't I tell you?" Asuka continued walking alongside Misato "He's not gonna come back. He probably loves his new life. Nothing to worry about, no angels, no evas-" 

"No you to torture him" Misato says to Asuka. 

Asuka stares at Misato in disbelief for a second before replying "So now it's my fault that he didn't come back? Please, he wouldn't have came anyway" 

"It probably contributed" Misato said annoyed at Asuka's attitude toward Shinji not returning. They argued the rest of the way home. As soon as they entered the apartment Asuka went to her room and Misato got a beer from the fridge. 

-------- 

"He did not return" Gendo said to Fuyutsuki. 

"...." Fuyutsuki had nothing to say. He had not expected this. 

"Tell professor Akagi to search for a replacement" 

Fuyutsuki sighs and picks up the phone to call Akagi to Gendo's office. 

----- 

"Why the hell did you save me, Wondergirl!" Asuka yelled at Rei who continued to change out of her plug suit. 

_"What? This again?" _

"I'm asking you a question!" Asuka yelled again when it seemed Rei was not responding. 

"I was doing a favor" Rei said, emotionless as usual. This comment enraged Asuka beyond belief. 

"You! YOU, were doing ME a favor!?" Asuka yelled "You must be kidding me! I don't want any favors from a doll like you!" 

_"She was doing Shinji a favor" _

"I-" Rei started but Asuka wasn't done. 

Asuka interrupts Rei with as she laughed maniacally. "How degrading! I guess I owe you a favor now, eh wondergirl!" 

"I was fulfilling my favor to Ikari-kun" Rei said quietly after noting that Asuka was finished. This took Asuka by surprise.

"...What?" She asked, her voice back to normal. 

Rei had finished changing and was ready to leave. "I said I was fulfilling my favor to Ikari-kun" Rei then turned to leave but Asuka stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. 

"And what favor would this happen to be?" Asuka asked her voice and anger rising. 

Rei looked into Asuka's eyes while pondering whether or not it was necessary to share this information with Asuka. She decided no one had told her not to so she did. "Ikari-kun asked me to look out for you" Rei said and then added "Good-bye" and left the lockeroom. 

Asuka stood there in silence for a minute and then began to change. She could not help but smile from time to time but as soon as the smile appeared she would mentally kick herself. She heads for the door and then stops right in front of it. She then closes here eyes, and gathers her thoughts. As she walks out she mutters "I'm going to kill him..." 

_"No I'm not" _

"Your going to kill me" 

_"No I'm not!" _

"Yes you are" 

_"NO! I'M! NOT!" _

"Then why did you say that?" 

_"I..."_

"Why did you say it?" 

_"I wasn't thinking..." _

"About a possibility" 

_"No...."_

"I'm not coming back" 

_"...." _

"At least now I don't die" 

_"I'm not going to kill you!" _

"..." 

_"I said I'm not going to kill you!" _

_"..."_

_"I'M NOT GOING TO KILL YOU! SO PLEASE COME BACK!!!!" _

Asuka's eyes shot open, she was sweating furiously and breathing hard. It took her a moment to recollect herself and then she let out a sigh as she looked at her clock. "6:00 am" it read. 

'I'm early' She thought as she got a clean pair of clothes and walked to the shower. She would leave the house early for she didn't feel like talking to Misato this morning.

------

Asuka and Misato were eating dinner. They were eating in silence when Asuka decides to break it.

"So who's the new pilot going to be?" Asuka asks breaking the silence. 

Misato replies "I'm not sure. Ritsuko seemed to favor some German girl" 

"German? Really? What's her name?" Asuka asked, elated at the idea of having another German pilot. 

"Katharina" Misato says, "But it's not for sure yet. She told me she was a good candidate a while ago, but she wasn't going to tell Katharina about it until it was confirmed that Shinji-kun wasn't coming back" 

"Well, the baka isn't coming back, so Ritsuko-san should be telling her now shouldn't she?" 

"Maybe, or maybe she will choose ano-" Misato was interrupted by a sound from the door. 

"Tadaima"

----------- 

My Rants

Yeah that's it. All right, it doesn't really matter since I doubt many people read my story anyway but after this chapter, I will upload chapter a lot slower. (Like it will take me longer per chapter) See up to this chapter, I already had most of the story written out, so I would just add some stuff and call it a chapter. Now I have to start writing again so... Well you get the point. 


	6. Shinji in Nihon

Shinji in Nihon

"Maybe, or maybe she will choose ano-" Misato was interrupted by a sound from the door. 

"Tadaima" 

Misato and Asuka's head turn toward the door and they see Shinji there with a blank face, taking his shoes off. They were both speechless and just stare at Shinji. Shinji seems to not notice the stares he was receiving and proceeds to walk to his room. He enters and closes the door behind him. Misato had dropped her beer and it was now spilled over the table. 

"I think I've had enough to drink for one night" Misato says, "I swear to god I just hallucinated" 

Asuka looks over at Misato, then at Shinji's door, and then at Shinji's shoes. 'He's back...' She thinks and then turns to Misato again, "I don't think I've been drinking tonight, and I saw it too" 

Misato seems to still be in shock. Asuka sighs and finishes her dinner. She brings her plates to the sink and then walks into her room. A minute later she walks out and calls to Misato "I'm gonna take a shower" 

Misato just nods, still in disbelief. After she hears the shower running she picks up her can of beer. She stares at it for a while and then goes to the fridge to get another. 

-------

Shinji wakes up in cold sweat. He looks shocked for a moment before getting out of bed and getting his school uniform. He had left it in his drawer, he hadn't needed it in Germany. He takes a shower and then walks into the kitchen. He starts to think about what he should make himself for breakfast when he hears stirring from Misato's room. He doubts she will wake up anytime soon but he decides to head out the door. The thought of bringing his SDAT player enters his head but he realizes that his belongings had not yet arrived. 

'But then again, they probably won't ever arrive' Shinji thinks as he heads out the door. 

------- 

Asuka walks into her classroom. He surveys the class for any signs of Shinji. She had begun to doubt his return, especially when she found no trace of him at the house this morning. She sees Toji and Kensuke but no Shinji. Asuka sighs and mutters 'Maybe I _was_ hallucinating'

She then sees Hikari and decides to walk over. As she walks a brown haired boy in the corner of the room catches her eye. She takes a good look and sees it was Shinji. 

'Shinj..' She thinks but then realized something. 'Why isn't he talking to the other stooges...'

Shinji was blankly staring out the window. He almost looked like Rei, but Rei had a different look in her eyes. Like she was actually looking at something. Or for something. But Shinji, he was just.... seeing.

'Well I guess someone had a depressing vacation. But it couldn't have been that bad... I guess I'll talk to him later' She thinks but then continues to head over to Hikari.

-------

"Hey Asuka" Hikari says.

"Guten Morgen" Asuka says not quite as cheerfully.

"Uh...I guess Ikari-kun is back" Hikari says, as if it were a suggestion.

"Guess so" Asuka says, seemingly unfazed.

"I thought you said he didn't come back" 

"He didn't, when we went to get him at the airport. But he suddenly came home yesterday" Asuka says, now sitting down.

"Well, did you talk to him?"

"What? Why would I talk to that baka?"

"Well, you missed him didn't you?"

Asuka laughs.

"Asuka..." Hikari says.

Asuka's laugh turns into a nervous one and then stops.

"He left early this morning, and yesterday he went straight to his room. I didn't have a chance to talk about him" Asuka says after a few moments.

"Oh, well why don't you go talk to him now?" Hikari asks.

"I-" Asuka starts but then the teacher walks in. The students take their seats. 

"Kiritsu, Lei, Chakuseki" Hikari anounces just like every other day. The students stand, bow and sit back down. 

"Good morning" The teacher says, and then begins his lesson.

------

"Ikari-kun"

Shinji turns around and sees Rei standing at the doorway.

It was lunch. Shinji had instantly got up and walked out of the class when it started. He had then headed straight for the roof.

"Oh Ayanami, sorry but I want to be alone right now" Shinji replies as he turns back around to see the scenery.

Ayanami quickly responds "I just thought I would like to report to you how your favor went"

"Oh...don't worry about that. Just forget I ever mentioned it" Shinji says still looking away from Rei.

"I see.." Rei says with a confused look on her face. She takes one last glance at Shinji and then walks back down the stairs.

Shinji did not return to class that day.

-----

"Tadaima!" Asuka said as she walked into the apartment, nearly walking into Misato.

"Okaeri Asuka, I'm on my way out. You and Shinji-kun have Sync tests today so be at headquarters by 6" Misato says and then sees that Shinji is not behind Asuka, "Where's Shinji-kun?"

"How should I know? He didn't come back to class after lunch"

"He skipped class?" Misato asked, concerned.

"Yes, I just said that" Asuka says as she walks into the apartment.

"Oh... I see" Misato says and then adds "Well, I'm going now, Ittekimasu"

"Itterashai" Asuka mutters and then walks to her room to put her bag down. She comes walks back out, gets a drink, brings it too the living room and begins to watch TV.

-----

"Tadaima" Shinji mutters as he walks into the apartment. Asuka looks over from the couch.

"Where have you been baka?" Asuka asks.

Shinji looks over at Asuka. 

'He looks tired' Asuka thinks and then sees Shinji getting a drink from the refrigerator.

"Hey I asked you a question!" Asuka yells.

Shinji continues to ignore her which greatly annoys Asuka.

"Whatever, I don't care anyway" Asuka says and then remembers they have a Sync test. "We have tests today. Misato said to be there at 6"

"All right" Shinji mutters and then walks to his room.

"Oh so now you talk to me" Asuka says, still annoyed.

Shinji continues to walk, ignoring her again. Asuka unable to take it any longer, gets off the couch and runs in front of Shinji.

"What the hell is your problem!?" She yells.

Shinji looks at Asuka unamused. He attempts to walk around her but she stops him.

"I said what's your problem!?" She yells again louder then before.

"I heard you. You don't always have to be so loud, Soryu" Shinji says coldly. He then gently pushes Asuka aside and walks into his room, shutting the door behind him.

Asuka was in shock. Actually she was more furious then in shock. She mutters "What's his problem....?"

------

Asuka had left for headquarters before Shinji. She didn't feel like seeing him. Now the three Children, all in their plug suits, were standing in front of Misato and Ritsuko. Ritsuko was giving them a brief explanation of the tests. Rei looked emotionless, but that was normal. Asuka looked calm, but she kept stealing glances at Shinji. Shinji just stared in front of him at nothing in particular.

"We will not insert the plugs into the evas for this test" Ritsuko concludes.

"Good luck" Misato adds.

-------

"Is everyone ready?" Misato asks.

"Of course!" Asuka says.

"Yes" Rei says, simply.

Shinji remains silent. Ritsuko glances over at Misato. Misato examines the expression on Shinji's face for a moment. She then turns to Ritsuko and shrugs.

"We will begin the test" Ritsuko says and the LCL begins to fill the entry plugs.

The picture of Ritsuko and Misato disappear from Shinji's screen. He then sighs and mutters inaudibly "May the blood of Lilith envelope me, and bring me to my mother" 

-------

Yeah I know it's short, but I thought it was a good place to end it. Well anyway. Please review. Oh yeah I have another question. Does Shinji, Rei and Asuka get paid for piloting? I would figure yes since they are riskin' their lives and I guess technically they are employed to Nerv. But anyway if someone could give me a definite answer it would be nice.

Japanese

Kiritsu - Stand

Lei or Rei - Bow

Chakuseki - Sit

That's all classroom stuff. You don't go up to a random Japanese kid sittin in the middle of the street and say "Kiritsu" 


	7. Any Last Words?

BTW I don't own Evangelion.

Any Last Words?

Misato, Maya and Ritsuko were discussing the results of the tests. They were sitting in an office, inputting the results into the computer.

"Did Shinji-kun's sync rate decrease?" Misato asks looking worried.

"No, actually... it has increased by 20" Ritsuko says, hesitantly.

"20! Is that possible in a mere two months?" Misato asks.

"It's very unlikely considering he had no interaction with an Eva during his time in Germany" Maya says, "But there seems to be no error in the results"

"He seemed a little different today didn't he?" Ritsuko asks Misato.

"Yeah... he's been.... I think depressed, but I'm not sure" Misato says, "I haven't really gotten a chance to talk to him. Maybe I should ask some of his friends...."

"Well, he is in your custody and is your responsibility" Ritsuko says, professionally.

"Yeah... I know"

------

Asuka, Hikari, Touji and Kensuke were sitting in the classroom together. They had all arrived to school early today. Asuka had asked Hikari to come in early so she could talk to her about Kensuke. Hikari suggested getting Touji and Kensuke to come as well, since they were his best friends. Asuka objected but in the end Hikari had convinced her.

"Well, he has changed right? It's not just me." Touji asks.

"Way to go Einstein, I'm so glad we invited you to share that very useful information with us" Asuka mutters.

Touji glares at Asuka who just looks away.

"Well it's obviously something that happened in Germany" Kensuke states, matter-of-factly.

"It could have been some other things, you never know" Hikari chimes in.

"Yeah, like maybe a bitchy redhead giving him shit all the time" Touji says, staring straight at Asuka, obviously angry.

Asuka slaps Touji leaving a red handprint on his cheek. Hikari looks disapprovingly and Kensuke just winces.

"So what's different about him?"

"Well, he's quiet..." Kensuke says.

"And he seems to be out of it often" Touji says.

"His eyes are dead"

The four teenagers turn around and see a blue haired girl standing behind them,

"What?" Kensuke asks.

"His eyes, they have no emotion" Rei says.

"Wow, is the doll concerned about Baka-Shinji?"

"Asuka!" Hikari says.

Rei ignores the comment, "Perhaps Kaji Ryoji could provide us with some information"

"Kaji-san? Why Kaji-san?" Asuka asks.

"He was stationed in Germany while Ikari-kun was there"

"Oh....." Asuka says.

"So can someone asks him? Touji says.

"I ca-" Rei starts.

"No, I'll do it. I'll ask Kaji-san" Asuka interrupts.

"Well, it doesn't matter, just tell us what he says" Kensuke says. The class begins to fill up now so they all go to their usual places in the classroom.

-------

"You could have waited for me after school" Asuka says simply as she walks into the apartment. 

Shinji was sitting on the couch, working on some homework. He ignores Asuka.

Asuka had expected this. She decided that she would not let anything Shinji did get on her nerves. 

"What's the matter? Did poor wittle Shinji dislike Germany?" Asuka says teasingly walking over to Shinji.

Shinji continues to ignore her and is typing on his laptop.

"Were the Germans mean to poor wittle Shinji?" Asuka asks.

Shinji slams his laptop close. He then looks at Asuka right in the eyes. Asuka notices what Rei was saying about. Shinji's eyes were indeed dead.

Shinji says "Manche deutsche sind echt in Ordnung" 

Asuka at first is suprised to hear German come out of Shinji's mouth, but then realizes it makes sense since he did live there for two months.

"....andere moechte Ich einfach nur umbringen." 

He then takes his laptop and brings it to his room. He closes the door behind him and continues his homework. 

Asuka gapes at Shinji until he is out of sight. She has no idea what to think, her mind was blank.

-------

"Gochisousama" Shinji mutters and brings his plates to the sink. He had not finished his food.

Misato looks concerned as she stares at Shinji. She then says "Shinji-kun, is something wrong?"

Shinji rinses off his plates and heads to his room. He goes in and replies from inside "Major Katsuragi, don't worry about me" 

With that he closes his door. 

Misato looks at Asuka who was still eating. "You haven't talked to him have you?

"No" Asuka says somewhat loudly, "Why would I?"

Misato sighs and then begins to eat her food. 'I guess I better talk to Kaji" she thinks.

------

Gendo and Fuyutsuki were discussing the Third Children while walking down the hallway. No one was in sight.

"He has returned" Fuyutsuki says.

"He has" 

"He seems different. We both know why he has changed"

"It has no affect on his piloting skills" Gendo says, "There is no reason to worry."

"You said yourself that he was unstable. I do not think he is any more stable"

"You said yourself he would stabilize" Gendo says.

"I did, but...."

"Fuyutsuki, there is no reason to worry."

Fuyutsuki sighs and continues to walk in silence.

-----

Shinji is in a playground. He is sitting in a sandbox. A blue eyed girl sits on a swing nearby. It was night, and a bit chilly. Soft winds blew across the playground making the grass seem alive. 

"You feel its pain. It's horrible. And the rush, the realization that if I lose, everybody dies" Shinji says his head between his knees.

"But if you win, you save everyone"

"It doesn't matter! The next one will come, and I fight again!"

"And if you win again, you save everybody"

"It hurts so much.." Shinji says, "the pain is blinding. Sometimes I have wished I had died."

"But in the end you live, and save everybody"

"I don't care! I don't want to go back to that!" Shinji screams.

Katharina sits in silence for a while and then walks over to Shinji. Shinji, hearing her footsteps looks up at her.

She gently strokes the side of his face and says "But it is where you belong. And the people you belong with"

"I don't want to belong there" Shinji says, "I want to stay here...with you"

Katharina, who had been smiling all this time has a somewhat hurt expression on her face. Shinji fails to catch this since she suddenly hugs Shinji.

"I want you to stay too, but you can't. You don't belong here." Katharina says sweetly.

"Who are you to say that! I choose where I belong"

"You know where you belong. If you choose, you will choose wrong"

Shinji begins to cry and Katharina hugs him tighter. After a while Katharina says "It's getting late. Your plane leaves early tomorrow right?" 

"I'm not going" Shinji states simply.

Katharina stops hugging him and stands up. She then pulls Shinji to his feet. Shinji is looking at his feet, but Katharina grabs him and Shinji looks up at her.

"You don't know Kat. You don't know the pain. The horror. The blood-like smell of the LCL. I drown in blood, every time I pilot."

"If I see you in school tomorrow" Katharina says as she smiles, "I'll beat you to a pulp and then drag you to the airport."

Shinji does not say anything. Katharina sees that he is not convinced. 

"I'll also tell all those girls that you turned down that you were lying about our relationship and you actually just thought they were all ugly." Katharina adds.

"But that's not-"

"AND, I will tell all the boys in our class that you tried to rape me"

"What!?" Shinji yells, shocked.

"And obviously, seeing as I'm such a pretty girl, and guys just adore me, they will all come after you to get revenge for poor little me" Katharina says, smiling mischievously.

"But-"

"By the way, they will beat you to a pulp"

Shinji sighs, "....Well... If that's what it takes for me to stay here with you, so be it"

Katharina stares in awe. Shinji adds "Come one you should get home"

Shinji walks Katharina home. They walk in silence. Shinji offers his hand but Katharina does not take it.

----------

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow" Shinji says and turns to leave.

Katharina hugs Shinji from behind.

"Shinji, please....."

"I'm not going back Kat." Shinji says, "They can find a replacement for me. I'm not important"

"Why would you stay? You have a life back in Japan."

"But I have you here" Shinji responds as he attempts to get out of Katharina's hold.

".... Do you love me Shinji?" Katharina says quietly.

Shinji, surprised by the question turns around and asks "What?"

Katharina pushes Shinji against the wall and holds him against it. "I said, Do you love me Shinji?"

"I...uh..I" Shinji stutters. He could feel himself blushing. Katharina was looking right at him, her hands holding him against the wall. Her eyes were such a deep blue. He gazed into a few moments before snapping out of it. 

"I..." Shinji takes a deep breath, 'Whatever, I've come this far' he thinks.

"I do" Shinji says looking at Katharina.

Katharina closes here eyes. Shinji is unsure of what to make of her facial expression. He thought she looked somewhat hurt. She then suddenly kissed Shinji. The kiss was intense, Shinji could practically feel Katharina's emotions as she slipped her tongue into his mouth.

Katharina broke the kiss. She was panting and after regaining her breath she said "I love you too, and that was my.... our first real kiss."

Shinji opened his eyes after he heard Katharina talking. "But we've kissed before"

"Not like that"

Shinji could not argue with that. He looked at Katharina in the face and saw that she was crying.

"Kat wha-"

"And I want you to SWEAR on that kiss, that tomorrow your going to be on a plane to Japan" Katharina says. She is standing inches away from Shinji.

"Kat I ca-"

"And when you get back you're going to fight those angels and destroy every last one of them" Katharina adds.

Shinji is confused on what to do. He had no idea why she was crying. "It's too-"

"I said I want you to swear!" Katharina yells.

"I..." Shinji begins to panic. He was getting nervous, he could tell from the excess sweating.

"You are Pilot Shinji Ikari, designated pilot of the Evangelion unit 01" Katharina takes Shinji's hands in hers, "With these hands you have the power to save the world, or destroy it. You can decide if mankind lives or dies. You are an employee of Nerv, an organization created to destroy the Angels"

"Kat...the LCL... the pain... it's... it's too much. It scares me beyond belief."

"You bathe in the blood of your creator, it shouldn't feel all bad. I'm sure you get s sense of tranquility when your in the entry plug"

"How did you-"

"And don't call her it, she's in there"

"What?"

"Deine mutter" Katharina says, "Now swear to me. You have to go back to her"

"....."

"Don't think about it now. Think about it when your back in Japan. It will be easier when you're with her"

".....I swear" Shinji finally says.

Katharina smiles through her tears. "Well, I guess this is good-bye"

Her words shot through Shinji's heart. He could feel a choking feeling in the back of his throat.

'No' He thinks but the tears spill out anyway.

"Crybaby, I'm the girl, I should get to cry on your shoulder while you tell me 'I'm sorry, I have to do this" Katharina says, making her voice deeper at the end.

"I don't sound like that"

Katharina laughs and hugs Shinji once again."Lebewohl" she says.

"Leb...." Shinji starts, "Le... Sayonara" he says, smiling.

"One last one" Katharina says quietly.

"What?"

"Slow as always" Katharina mutters and kisses Shinji again.

------------

"You better not have leaked information to him"

"No...."

"Did you convince him?"

"No..."

"You do know what that means"

"Yes"

The man raises a gun. "Any last words?"

"Ich liebe dich, Shinji-kun. Lebewohl"

---------------

Uh huh, that's the end. Man, I'm gonna get killed. I never thought Katharina would be such a likeable character....

Notes

No, I didn't skip a chapter between 5 and 6. I have this dumb habit of not wanting to explain the whole plot until the very end. Like the scenes here aren't finished either. Now the one problem with my habit is that people will get confused as to which events occured in the past and which are occuring in the present. If anyone is confused just put it in the review and I will clarify. Sorry about the impotence of my story.

I would translate the German but I kinda don't want to. For my own reasons. So if you really want to know what they are sayin, you can look it up. BTW thank mastermage for making your lives harder. :-)

No seriously, thank you mastermage for translations. Thanks everyone for reviews.

Well I decided I will translate the German.

Manche deutsche sind echt in Ordnung - Some Germans are very agreeable (or somethin like that)

Andere moechte Ich einfach nur umbringen - But some I want to kill

Deine mutter - Your mother

Lebewohl - goodbye

Ich liebe dich - I love you


	8. May The Best Girl Win

May The Best Girl Win

"The phones are not working" Rei says.

"I can't get through, even on my cellphone" Asuka adds angrily.

Shinji takes his Emergency Manual out of his bag and reads it. Rei does the same and Asuka ruffles through her bag to find hers.

"We need to find a way inside" Shinji says.

"Right, now before we begin, we should choose a group leader. Of course the leader is-" Asuka stops as she sees Shinji begin walking the other way.

"Hey! I said we need to-"

"It doesn't matter, we just need to get in" Shinji says, not turning around, He continues to walk, Rei and Asuka follow.

---------

"We can usually get there in five minutes, how long is this going to take?" Asuka says irritated. They had been walking for quite a while now. They come to a stop as another door stands in their way.

Shinji walks up to it and turns the lever to manually open the door, as he did to the one before. Rei and Asuka watch in silence. After the door is opened the three of them continue walking. 

"So, Baka-Shinji, why are you so depressed?" Asuka says after a while, breaking the silence.

"I'm not depressed"

"Please, you're still hung up on Katherine?" Asuka says teasingly. She had asked Kaji who had recently come back to Japan. Rei looked at her, with a hint of displeasure.

Shinji continues to walk. He was surprised Asuka knew about Katharina, but it was bound to happen, most of Nerv probably knew.

"It's Katharina" He says.

"Oh I'm sorry" Asuka continues, "Did I get your girlfriend's name wrong?"

"She's not my girlfriend"

"Anymore" Asuka adds. She was glad to tease him. Shinji had been making her uneasy every since he got back. It was time she reclaimed her right to make fun of him. But of course, there is so much a boy can take. And the amount Shinji would take had been greatly decreased.

Shinji turns around abruptly and faces Asuka. For the first time since he got back, Rei and Asuka saw a hint of emotion in his eyes. Anger.

Shinji just glares for a while. He looked like he was about to say something but then Rei suddenly said

"Do you hear that?"

Asuka and Shinji both look at Rei and then hear a faint voice.

"It's Hyuga-san!" Asuka says enthusiastically as the voice approaches, "Heeey! Hyuga-san!"

Rei continues to listen, trying to make out what he was saying.

"There's an Angel approaching! Prepare for battle!"

"An angel approaching!?" Asuka says.

"I believe we should hurry, let's take a shortcut" Rei says calmly and begins to walk. Shinji silently follows and Asuka does the same after a moment.

-----------------

"So.... your favored by the commander huh?" Asuka says to Rei.

Rei remains silent and continues to walk. 

"I guess that explains you acting so different. People that are favored are cocky"

Rei still holds her silence irritating Asuka, who runs in front of Rei and glares at her.

"Just cause your favored doesn't mean you can mock me!"

"I'm not mocking you" Rei says, "And I'm not favored.... I can tell"

Shinji continues walks past the two girls. He could care less about Asuka's dumb accusations and Rei's emotionless replies. Asuka sees that Shinji is ahead of them and starts walking again. Rei does the same. The rest of the trip to the Central Dogma was in silence.

-----------------

Ritsuko was doing what she could to help get the Evas ready. Makoto had recently arrived, informing them of the angel approaching. Gendo had gone to help with the manual preparations. She suddenly hears a crash and sees the three Children on the ground. Ritsuko could not hide her smile.

"You made it, the preparations are almost complete." Ritsuko says. 

"Without any power?" Asuka asks.

"Yes, everything was done manually" Ritsuko responds. She then looks over at Shinji and adds "It was your father's idea"

Ritsuko was expecting some reaction. Perhaps surprise, perhaps pride, perhaps even admiration. But she received none. All she received was Shinji's cold voice saying "I see"

The three pilots got changed into their plug suits. They then boarded their respective Evas and manually launched. The three evas crawled through a duct and came to an opening. They then proceed to climb up. After a while some orange liquid drops onto the Eva 0's shoulder. It burns considerably and Rei realizes what it is.

"We have to dodge" Rei says, still calm.

"Huh?" Asuka say and then a large amount of the acid falls on her. She loses her grip and her Eva falls crashing into Rei's Eva.

The two evas fall and Shinji looks up to see them.

He drops his rifle and attempts to catch them but cannot withstand the weight and falls. But after a while he digs his hands and feet into the walls and stops the fall. The three then take cover in a duct.

The three Children open up their communication channels.

"The target secretes a strong acid, it's impossible to reach it" Rei says.

"We have no rifle" Shinji add quietly.

"There is a way" Asuka says after thinking for a moment, "We split up. Offense, defense and back-up. The defense defends the offense from the acid. The back-up retrieves the rifle and-"

"Forget it"

"What!?" Asuka yells enraged.

"I said forget" Shinji says, "we need to kill it, that's the plan"

With that he goes out of the duct and begins to climb again.

"Baka! Your gonna get hit!" Asuka yells.

"Ikari-kun" Rei says with a hint of urgency.

Shinji ignores both of them and continues to climb he sees some acid coming down and attempts to dodge it. It hits his left hand. It burns, but Shinji does not even flinch and continues climbing.

"What is he doing! Wondergirl, get the rifle and throw it up to me!" Asuka says.

Rei responds immediately and jumps down. Asuka goes out as well and waits for Rei.

Shinji had reached a considerable height now. He was almost there. Half his eva was covered in acid and his body burned and seared. Hissing sounds were heard from where the acid was on the Eva. 

Rei gets the rifle and throws it up at Asuka. Asuka catches it and aims up. 

"Baka! Move, I'll shoot it to death." Asuka says.

"Move where?" Shinji says calmly. 

"I don't know! Just move! I can't hit it with you in the way!"

Shinji does not respond. He had reached the top. His whole body was in intense pain, yet he didn't feel it. 

'I am Shinji Ikari, designated pilot of the Evangelion unit 1' He thinks to himself, 'My mission is to destroy the angels, and I will fulfill this mission by any means necessary'

Katharina's words echo in his head as he punches through the angel's AT-field. He then drills his hand into the eye that the acid was coming out of. He penetrates and reaches into the angel. The Eva's arm begins to decay from the acid but Shinji finds the core. He shatters it with his fist. The angel falls down and then explodes. 

------------

"The pilot is alive" Maya reports.

"And the Evangelion unit 01?" Gendo asks.

"It is badly damaged" Ritsuko responds, "the acid ate through most of the outer armor. I'm surprised the pilot could even move after all that damage" 

"Is it repairable?"

"Yes, but it will take time." Ritsuko says.

"Call the pilot to my office as soon as he is conscious" Gendo says and then walks out of the central dogma.

Ritsuko sighs and sits down.

"Sempai, what's wrong?" Maya asks.

"It's nothing much" Ritsuko says.

"Are you worried about the repairs? Hopefully we can finish before the next angel" Maya says.

"Actually it might be better if we didn't....." Ritsuko says and then gets back to work.

-----------

'I bet I'm in that same room, with the same ceiling' Shinji thinks before opening his eyes. He sees the familiar ceiling. And the familiar scent.

"And the same smell" Shinji says out loud to no one in particular. He sits up and looks around. It was completely silent. He figured someone would soon come storming in, reporting to him about the battle and it's aftermath. His father would probably also want to see him. But no one came so Shinji decided to rest. He laid back down and closed his eyes.

'I won, Kat' he thinks and then drifts off to sleep. Unfortunately the expression on his face was not a smile, but an emotionless mask so inhuman one would think he was unreal, except for the blood trickling down the side of his mouth from the gritting of his teeth.

----------

"Get to the point! I wanna go home already!"

The voice belonged to Asuka. The other two pilots were in an office with Misato. She had called them there to discuss the Third Children. 

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, something is definitely troubling Shinji-kun"

"Yeah, Kassandra we know" Asuka says.

"Katharina" Rei says.

"Whatever, it's his problem. We have nothing to do with it." Asuka says .

"It is your problem" Misato says. She paces back and forth while drinking her coffee. "He is your fellow pilot, you have some responsibility"

"That's crap! He's his own person!" Asuka says, raising her voice.

"Well... he's your comrade and colleague"

"What are you suggesting?" Rei says calmly.

"He's obviously distraught over that girl in Germany, and I'm just asking the two of you to.... console him"

"Why-" Asuka begins but is interrupted.

"And the school dance coming up will give you both an equal opportunity to get closer to him" Misato says smiling.

Asuka finally knew what Misato meant by console, "Why do I, Asuka Langely Soryu, have to go out with that baka-loser"

"I never said anything about going out with anyone" Misato says calmly sipping her coffee.

"That's what you mean! Get closer to him and console him! Your asking us to be his solace!" Asuka yells.

"Does it require us to be... close to Ikari-kun in order to console him?" Rei asks curiously.

"Well, I don't just mean console. To be there for him when he needs you and-"

"How will we know when he needs us? He has not made an attempt to talk to anybody." Rei asks.

Misato was somewhat surprised with Rei's questions. She had not expected Rei to respond, but more Asuka. 

'I guess Shinji-kun won't mind' Misato thinks as she tries not to smile evilly.

"You will know. Just comfort him."

"No" Asuka says firmly.

"Rei?" Misato asks as she looks toward Rei.

"Is this an order?"

"Yes"

"That I will do my duties. You said something about a dance?"

"Yes, it's this Friday. I will make Shinji-kun go, so I hope I can count on you to be there"

"I understand" Rei says.

Asuka suddenly starts laughing, "I don't think you quite cut out for this job, wondergirl. It requires emotions."

"I believe I know how to treat pilot Ikari"

This causes Asuka to laugh even more, "Please, you don't know the first thing about relationships."

"From my observation of your actions towards pilot Ikari, neither do you"

Asuka's laugh was silenced. She was dumbfounded that Rei was talking so much. She had a determined look on her face. 

'Does Shinji really mean that much to her?' Asuka thinks. She turns to Misato and says "I'll be there too"

"I thought you weren't going to take this... assignment" Misato says carefully choosing the last word.

"I can't leave it up to wondergirl or the baka will commit suicide" Asuka says, "and his actions are affecting both of our piloting. He's going to drag us down, and I don't feel like losing to an angel."

"No so confident after Shinji-kun showing you up?"

"The baka got lucky"

Misato refused to argue. Shinji-kun's actions were unacceptable and highly dangerous. The commander may issue a suspension, to save the Eva-01 from being destroyed.

"Is that all?" Rei asks after a few moments of silence.

"Yes, good luck and may the best girl win!" Misato says teasingly.

"By the way, why do we have to do it? Wouldn't a non-pilot girl be a better candidate?" Asuka asks.

"You two are the closest female friends he has" Misato says. 

"Whatever, we'll see what happens" Asuka says and walks out of the office. Rei does the same.

'Good luck' Misato thinks.

---------------

Rei and Asuka were walking down a residential street, each heading for their respective homes.

"I bet you don't even have anything to wear" Asuka says as they stopped at a light.

"My school uniform will be sufficient" Rei answers.

"It's a dance, not school" Asuka says.

"The dance is in the school" Rei says simply and then begins to walk again since the light changed.

"You know what I mean" Asuka says but in her mind she knew Rei probably didn't know what she meant.

Rei remained silent as she walked. Asuka and her parted ways at the next block.

--------------

Shinji was in his father's office. He stood infront of his desk and just stared. Gendo looked at Shinji for a long time and then spoke.

"Why did you work cooperatively and destroy the angel"

"Destroying the angel is my mission, and I will fulfill it." Shinji said.

"You're spontaneous actions will destroy the Eva-01" Gendo says, his chin resting on both his hands.

"I will not lose" Shinji says calmly.

"You will not be this lucky every time, you cannot always win" Gendo says.

"Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do?" Shinji says coldly.

"You are dismissed. I will not suspend you, but you must be more careful next time. Your actions during battle will be watched closely"

Shinji turns around and walks out of the office. He could care less what his father had to say. 

--------------

"Excuse me" 

Touji and Kensuke looked up from their food. They were eating in the front yard of the school, against a wall. Shinji was on the roof as usual, so the two of them had been eating together.

"Oh, Ayanami, what is it?" Touji asks.

"....will you help me find a dress?" Rei says in the same monotone voice.

"What?" Kensuke says his jaw dropping.  


"I said-"

"We heard you, he's just being stupid" Touji says giving Kensuke a look. "Is it for the dance?"

Rei nods.

"And is it for Shinji?" Touji asks.

Rei hesitantly nods again. Touji smiles and puts his hand on Kensuke's shoulder. "Of course we'll help you. Anything to help out you and Shinji."

"Yeah" Kensuke says, "We'll make sure he ends up with you instead of that devil bitch" 

"We'll meet you outside after school" Touji says.

Rei nods again and walks off. True, she should have asked a girl, but the two stooges were her closest friend-like people besides her fellow pilots. 

After Rei is out of sight Touji looks a Kensuke and gives him a big grin.

"This is his chance man! Shinji is gonna get with Ayanami!" Touji says.

"You never know, I don't think Shinji is the type to... get with girls"

"Hey, he's heartbroken over his German girlfriend, and now his Japanese friend wants to get with him. The kid is pimpin'"

Kensuke laughs and adds, "Now all we need that devil chasing after him and he can be a real ladies man"

The two friends laugh, uplifted by the thought of their distraught friend being normal again.

-------------

"This one man! Trust me, I would much rather do a girl in this dress" Touji says.

"She's going to be dancing. This one is so much better. Plus it's blue and it will match her hair" Kensuke says holding up a blue dress.

"But what about this one! It's so much sexier. Shinji will have a permanent nosebleed when he sees this on Ayanami" Touji says as he points to a very revealing dress.

Rei just stands silently watching two boys argue over which dress looked "hotter". She personally thought one would look hottest in a dress that was hanging on the wall. It had long black sleeves and a long skirt. It was made out of a thick material and there was black fur-like material near the neck. 

'Yes, I would definitely be sweating in that one' Rei thinks to herself, 'but if I had a choice I would pick this one' 

Rei touches a dress that was hanging up next to her. It was a medium blue color. The skirt would reach her knees and there were no sleeves. 

'It looks.... nice" Rei thinks, 'I like that color'

"Your lucky to have two boys fighting over you. You sure know how to have fun" a female employee says to Rei. Rei turns left and sees a brown haired woman. Her roots were black, and she was somewhat short.

"Oh no, they are not-" Rei starts.

"Which one looks better? Definitely this one right?" Kensuke says still holding up the same blue dress. 

"No way! This one is so much hotter, don't you agree?" Touji says to the woman.

"Is it for her?" The woman asks.

The two boys both nod. 

"Actually I think this one..." the woman says and takes the blue dress that Rei was looking at, "..would bring out her beauty a lot better"

The two boys look at the dress unamused.

"I still think min-"

"No way! This one is so much better!" Touji interrupts yelling.

"Try this on" the woman says handing the dress to Rei, "See how it fits the dressing rooms are over here"

The woman walks and the three kids follow. They come to a dressing room and Rei goes in to change.

-----------

"Definitely get that one" Touji says after he recovers from shock. Kensuke's jaw was still dropped.

"See, it brings out her eyes while matching with her hair. And it's perfect for her body style." The woman says.

Rei cautiously looks at herself. She had never worn clothes like this before. They were somewhat hard to walk in but she could manage.

"I like this" Rei says emotionlessly.

"Good, I can give you a good price" the woman says. Rei walks back into the dressing room to change back. 

"It's normally twenty thousand yen, but I'll give it to you for half off." The woman says after a moment.

"Ten thousand yen!? That's crazy!" Touji exclaims.

"I can manage" Rei says as she walks out of the dressing room, once again in her uniform.

"But Ayanami, that's so-" Touji stops talking as Rei takes out her wallet and it is filled with 10,000 yen bills. Nerv pays her to pilot but she had never needed money before. She had no idea how much to bring so she figured she would bring everything she had.

"What?" Touji says in disbelief.

"Please pay at the register" The woman says and points toward the cash registers. Rei walks over two them with her dress in her hand.

"She's rich?" Touji asks Kensuke.

"I dunno, she probably gets paid for piloting" 

"Wow, saving the world. I wonder how much they pay you for that.." Touji says dreamily as he walks toward Rei. Kensuke does the same.

---------------

"So for those reasons I just mentioned, you must attend the dance tonight" Misato says to Shinji who is eating in front of her. Asuka was taking a shower.

"Major Katsuragi, my absences in school have nothing to do with me attending the dance"

"Of course it does, you can make up all that time you neglected the school building"

Shinji does not say anything for a while and then mutters "Fine" He brings his unfinished food to the sink and then gets his bag from his room.

"I'm leaving, ittekimasu" Shinji mutters.

"Aren't you going to way for Asuka?" Misato asks.

"No" Shinji simply says and walks out the door.

Misato sighs and looks toward the shower. "Asuka, this might be harder than you think..." She says quietly.

----------------

Shinji did not plan on attending the dance. But after a whole day of Touji and Kensuke nagging at him, he decided he should show up. If he didn't Touji would probably beat the living daylights out of him. They seemed pretty set on having him there.

"I'm not dressing up" Shinji says to himself as he walks toward the train station. His belongings had arrived from Germany a few days ago so it wasn't like he was incapable. He just didn't feel the need to. He wanted to go up to his lookout spot. He had recently discovered it while he wandered aimlessly. It was up in one of the mountains, but was fairly easy to get to. He would stay there for a while and then go to the dance. It didn't matter if he went late.

Shinji sighs as he walks into the train station. 'This is going to be a long night' he thinks.

----------------

Yeah well that's all for now.

A/N: Hey, so what is Iron Maiden? Alright so let's see, I don't have much to say. Oh right I decided I am going to translate the German from the last chapter. It will be up soon. Well I think that's all. Oh, I decided the the pilots do get paid. I heard they actually don't but I think that's a bunch of ish so... yeah. Thanks for the reviews everyone!


	9. The Dance: Part One

A/N: All right I've decided to cut the dance into two chapters. And I'm going to redo a lot of my chapters to fix all minor errors.

The Dance: Part One

'Interesting' That was all Rei could think. The dance was held in the gym, it made sense since it had the most space. There were not many people there yet, Rei had come somewhat early. She decided it would be better not to keep Shinji waiting, so she would go a bit early.

'A chance to get closer to him.... that's what Major Katsuragi said. But pilot Soryu made it clear that was not all the Major had in mind' Rei thought to herself as she stood against a wall in the back of the gym. The DJ and music was on the opposite side, drinks and food were to her left, coat check to her right. Rei continued to look around, the music very loud, and as more people came, a crowd started to gather. Groups of friends talking, boys eyeing girls, girls giggling.... Some people were already dancing.

'I wonder if I will be capable of finding Ikari-kun in this crowd' She thinks to herself. She could see several people were stealing glances at her, others just plainly staring. Mostly boys, but one girl... with blue eyes.

'The doll got a dress' Asuka thinks to herself as she looked at Rei after getting herself something to drink. Asuka herself was in a beautiful dress as well. She had gone shopping with Hikari and gotten herself an impressive yellow dress. If it were not for half the boys in the school knowing about how she acts toward Shinji, she probably would have had a lot more boys asking her to dance. 

"Hey will you dan-"

"No" Asuka says with no sympathy before even looking at the boy asking her. The boy walks of sulking. She sips her drink and looks around. 

'Where's Hikari?' She thinks but then almost immediately spots the brown haired girl making her way toward Asuka. 

"Hey Asuka" Hikari says smiling.

"Hey, all dressed up?" Asuka says mischievously.

Hikari blushes and turns to get a drink. Asuka knew exactly who Hikari was trying to impress. She looked around for Touji, but he was nowhere in sight. 

------------

Touji and Kensuke were outside. They were somewhat dressed up, more formal than their school uniforms but nothing special.

"All right so here is the plan" Kensuke says, as if he were commanding covert ops.

"I know, I know, you've told me like a million times"

"We will both help out Rei and Shinji as much as possible. You will work on Rei and I will work on Shinji" Kensuke says professionally.

"Right right, I know and we will meet together and discuss what each of them are thinking" Touji says.

"Right and then I will tell our class rep that she has lover"

Touji punches Kensuke hard in the arm repeatedly until Kensuke says "I'm joking!". 

"This is no time to be joking around, we need to get our friend back" Touji says, looking serious.

"Err... from what?"

"....Shut up and let's go, we're wasting time"

Kensuke follows Touji into the school. The two of them head to the gym.

------------

There was a clearing near a cliff, it was surrounded by trees except for that spot. Shinji was sitting in the middle, gazing lazily at the cityscape. It was not too high up but almost the whole city could be seen. 

'I don't wanna go' he thinks to himself. 

A light wind blows which sends a shiver down Shinji's back.

'It's kinda cold actually, maybe I'll go for the warmth' he thinks trying to make himself feel better about the inevitable.

He than stands up and after taking one more good look at the city, begins to head down. 

-------------

Asuka sees Touji and Kensuke walk through the gym doors engaged in conversation. Then they look around the gym examining everyone that was there. Asuka nudges her friend and Hikari looks at her.

"Hm?" 

"There's the man of your dreams" Asuka says teasingly.

Hikari sees Touji and goes slightly red. "He's all dressed up" she says.

'Unimpressively' Asuka thinks but decides not to say it. "Well, aren't you going to go talk to him?" 

"Uh....I dunno..." Hikari says looking down.

Asuka was about to say something but sees Kensuke tapping Touji and pointing at Rei.

'Huh?' she thinks.

The two boys then walk toward the back wall of the gym where Rei was standing and begin to talk to her.

Asuka looks at Hikari and sees her staring at them.

"It's probably about Shinji" Asuka says simply, "He's supposed to be here today" 

"Yes, I guess you're right" Hikari says still staring.

"Oh come on, she is the last person you have to worry about! She doesn't know anything about relationships. There's a bigger chance of me getting with that baka then her, and you know how much I hate him." Asuka says.

Hikari is silent and sips her drink, still staring.

Asuka sighs and looks at the people dancing as she refills her drink.

-----------

"All right so Shinji isn't here yet?" Touji asks.

"I don't believe so" Rei says looking straight ahead of her.

"All right so the plan is when he comes we'll all go talk to him, and after a while you ask him to dance" Kensuke says.

Rei remains silent.

"What's wrong?" Touji asks.

"I am unable to dance" Rei says.

"You can't dance?!" Kensuke says urgently.

'Actually we should have seen this coming' Touji thinks and says "All right, we'll teach you"

"But that ruins the plan!" Kensuke says.

"Well, we'll think of another one" Touji says simply.

"...Er... all right I got it. We'll be dancing and when he comes in we'll see him and walk over to him. Then after a little talking Rei asks him to dance" Kensuke says looking at Rei.

"All right so let's teach her before he gets here" Touji says.

"I...." Rei says.

"Come on Ayanami, you'll do fine" Touji says.

Rei is silent but begins to walk toward the dance floor. Kensuke and Touji walk with her.

------------

Asuka's jaw drops as she sees Touji begin to dance with Rei. After regaining herself she looks over at Hikari, but she wasn't there. Asuka then saw her friend heading out the door. After a glare at Touji she runs after her friend. As she walks out of the gym she bumps into someone throwing them on the floor.

"Owww, watch where the hell you going!" Asuka shouts at the figure on the ground.

Shinji stands up and looks at Asuka but does not say anything.

"Shinji..." Asuka says softly but then quickly adds, "Baka! Watch where your going!"

"Yeah, I heard you the first time, I'm sorry" Shinji says as he walks past her and into the gym.

Asuka stands up and dusts herself off. She then turns around and yells "Baka!" and races after her friend.

----------

"Uh... I think that was the class rep that just stormed out in tears" Kensuke says into Touji's ear.

"Huh?" Touji says as he turns around to see Hikari running out of the gym.

"Shouldn't you chase her?" Kensuke says as he sees Asuka run after her. 

"Why?" 

"Well, the girl of your dreams just stormed out in tears, I think I would chase her" Kensuke says.

"Uh..." Touji looks over at Rei who, was dancing much better than before. 

"I guess you're right, but she's not the girl of my dreams. She's a good friend." Touji says. 

"Whatever, by the way, the devil chased after he too, so you better brace yourself"

"I'll explain myself" 

"She's not the kind of person to wait, from what I remember" Kensuke says.

Touji's face makes a wincing expression as he remembers Asuka's slaps in the face. 

"I'll figure it out" Touji says and runs toward the doors. But on his way he sees Shinji entering and runs up to him.

"Hey Shinji, I'm glad you made it" Touji says trying to be cheerful.

"ER yeah, where are you off to?" Shinji says looking plain as he observed the surroundings.

"Uh.. long story, it's about Hikari and I'll tell you later" Touji says and then runs past Shinji. But he then turns around and adds "Oh, Kensuke and Rei are waiting for you on the dance floor!" 

Shinji says "All right" in an unenthusiastic voice and then walks into the gym.

---------

"There he is" Kensuke says to Rei, but Rei is already looking toward the door. Shinji sees them and walks over to them.

"Hey man, what took so long?" Kensuke says cheerfully.

"I.. I'm sorry" Shinji says.

"What? Don't be sorry, well whatever let's dance"

Shinji gives Kensuke an unimpressed look so Kensuke adds, "Not with me with her"

Shinji looks over at Rei who had stopped dancing. They both stared at each other for a while and then Shinji says "I don't dance"

"It doesn't matter, you can't be that bad!" Kensuke says.

"It's not about how bad I am. I just don't dance" Shinji says. 

"Oh come one, Rei has been looking forward to this all night" Kensuke says.

"Uh... what?" Shinji says as he looks at Rei.

Rei looked at Shinji and then Kensuke who was standing behind him mouthing "You want to dance".

"I...." Rei starts going red but then closes her eyes and calms herself. "It's all right, I don't mind sitting"

Kensuke smacks himself in the face and Shinji just stares. Rei then walks to the back of the Gym. Shinji and Kensuke follow her, Kensuke looking defeated and Shinji still having the same emotionless face.

------------

Touji ran out of the school but then was beat. He had no idea where Hikari had went and he found no signs of her. He was about to run to the street but then something hit him.

"She didn't take her coat, so she probably isn't outside" He said to himself. He was very surprised when a voice from next to him said 

"Baka, what if she didn't have a coat?" 

Touji turns to his right and sees Asuka standing there.

"Where did she go?" Touji asks.

"I don't know. She didn't go outside but I lost her after she ran up the stairs" Asuka says.  


"Well then what are you doing out here?" Touji asks.

"I heard your stupid footsteps and thought they were Hikari's" Asuka says angrily.

"Oh... So are you going to go look for her?" Touji asks nervously.

"Yeah, she is by best friend you know" Asuka says, matter a factly.

"Uh.. can I come?" Touji asks.

Asuka looks at him and then says "Fine, whatever you want" and walks into the school. Touji quickly follows her.

------------

My Rants

All right I have a few questions. What does Kensuke call Hikari? What does Touji and Kensuke call Asuka? Thanks for the reviews everyone!


	10. The Dance: Part Two

A/N: You know what I realized? I think I spelled Touji's name Toji in every chapter. Great...

The Dance:Part Two

Asuka and Touji had been looking for a while now, but Hikari was nowhere to be found. The two turned the corner and walked toward a flight of stairs. For the third time, they had checked the whole school.

"What the hell!" Asuka says angrily.

"Maybe we missed some places" Touji adds trying to calm her down.

"Well no shit we missed some places or we would have found her!" Asuka yells at Touji, still angry.

Normally any provocative remarks from Asuka would have had Touji yelling back, but tonight he was a little to distressed. The two walk back down to the first floor, neither of them saying a word.

"Well now what?" Asuka asks once they reach the bottom floor.

"I'm going to keep looking for her" Touji says.

"Are you joking? Maybe she went home already, she had plenty of time to get out of the school while we looked around."

"Yeah..but... I'm going to look for her" 

Asuka sighs and is about to agree and go look for her, but a thought crosses her mind.

'It's probably better if he found her alone. That way she would know he came looking for her.. And then I would have to go away anyway to leave those two lovebirds alone...'

"I'm going to go back to the dance" Asuka says simply.

"All right" Touji says.

"Bring her back to the dance if you find her" 

"I know" Touji says and then runs off to find Hikari.

Asuka stares at Touji's back for a while and then heads for the gym.

--------

Kensuke, Shinji, and Rei sat against a wall in the back of the gym. By now the dance was pretty crowded and many people had shown up. 

'Now what? What can I do... Think! Think! Think!' Kensuke thought to himself as he looked at Rei and Shinji who were both silent.

'Maybe if I leave them alone together...' Kensuke thought as he evilly smiled.

"I'm going to go get some drinks" Kensuke states.

"All right, I'll come with you" Shinji offers.

"No that's okay. I can handle it, I'll get both of you one too" Kensuke says and then walks over to the drinks.

"Uh..okay" Shinji says confused by his friend.

Rei was watching the whole conversation silently. She then looked over at the people dancing and had a strange feeling inside of her.

"Ikari-kun" Rei says.

"Huh?" Shinji says turning to Rei.

"I want to ask you a favor" Rei says still having the emotionless mask plastered to her face.

"What is it?" Shinji says a bit surprised.

"I want to dance... with you" Rei says simply. 

"Ayanami...I don't dance.." Shinji says but then looks at Rei and sees a hint of sadness in her eye.

"Ah well, fine just one dance" Shinji says.

Rei stands up and Shinji holds out his hand. Rei takes it and the two make themselves toward the dance floor.

-------- 

Kensuke was bringing three drinks over to the back of the gym when he saw Rei and Shinji join the crowd of people dancing. He could tell Shinji was enjoying himself, although he tried to hide it. And Rei too seemed to be expressing more pleasure than usual.

"Well, I guess that's solved" Kensuke says to himself as he drinks all three of the drinks.

'I guess I can go help out Touji Kensuke thinks and then heads toward the exit of the gym. He leaves the gym and goes to look for Touji A few moments later, a German redhead walks in.

'I hope he finds her' Asuka thought constantly as she made her way across the gym. She would have remained deep in thought but a certain blue-haired girl doing something... unusual caught her attention.

'Is that wondergirl dancing?' Asuka thinks, unable to hide her shock. She then sees who she was dancing with.

Asuka has no idea how to react. She was at first in awe but soon the awe turns to sadness.

'I guess she knows about relationships after all.....' Thoughts of running out of the gym crossed her mind, but this was Asuka not Hikari. Her sadness soon turned to anger as she thought of her best friend.

'Who the hell does she think she is all of a sudden? That girl doesn't even know what dancing is!' 

Asuka now glared at Rei and Shinji. She thought about Rei dancing with Touji and her anger increased.

'I have to say something to her. At least for Hikari' she thinks, but she was only making excuses for herself. Blinded by emotion and not thinking of how Touji chased Hikari when she ran, Asuka approached Rei and Shinji.

"Wondergirl" Asuka says, her voice amazingly even.

Rei stops dancing at the sounds of her voice being said and turns in the direction that the sound came from. Shinji to stops dancing and turns toward Asuka. 

"Who the hell do you think you are!?" Asuka snaps angrily.

Rei does not answer the question right away but then simply states "I believe I am myself, and only myself" 

"I mean who do you think you are dancing with-" Asuka yells, but then realizes she was receiving many stares from the other students that were dancing. Shinji being one of them.

"Touji" Asuka finishes, lowering her voice.

"You were dancing with Touji?" Shinji asks, deciding to join the conversation. He had not bothered to ask Kensuke about Touji so he knew nothing of what had happened before.

"He was instruc-" Rei starts but is interrupted.

"Please, as weird as your disposition may be you knew about Hikari!" Asuka says angrily.

Rei gives her a look that tells Asuka that she doesn't understand. Shinji looks at Rei and then gives Asuka a glare. Some of the students continued to stare but others chose to ignore them and go back to their own dancing. Asuka continues to glare at Rei but then sees Shinji's disapproving glare.

"What?!" Asuka yells at Shinji, the next victim to her anger.

"Lass ihre in ruhe" Shinji says to Asuka.

Asuka, somewhat surprised, stares at Shinji. She stares intently attempting to read his emotions and then sighs.

"Viel spa§ spielen mit ihrem puppe" Asuka says coldly and walks out of the gym.

Rei and Shinji stand in silence on the dance floor. Rei just stares blankly and Shinji's gaze follows Asuka until she is out of sight. Shinji then turns to Rei, smiles weakly and says "Let's take a break"

Rei just nods and follows Shinji off the dance floor. The two of them did not dance again. 

------------

Kensuke was in confusion. There were no signs of Touji or Hikari anywhere. Kensuke lets out a sigh and continues to wander the halls.

'I wonder where they went" He thinks to himself as he turns the corner to find nothing. He was officially sick of looking for them. 

'He probably found her and is doing fine" Kensuke thinks, 'And I would probably just get in the way of the two of them.... I'll check the entrance one more time'

Kensuke walks to the front door of the school and looks outside. No sign of Touji, no sign of Hikari. He is then abruptly hit to the side by a girl. Kensuke looks up in surprise and sees a girl run by. 

'Wait is that..." Kensuke thinks, 'No Hikari doesn't have red hair....'

------------

'Misato's not home. Baka-Shinji will stay at the dance with his doll...' 

'I'm alone' Asuka thinks as she lies down on her bed.

'It has nothing to do with me. Why should I care who the baka dates.'

Asuka turns her body and faces the wall.

'I bet she would make a lousy girlfriend anyway. Imagine wondergirl being affectionate.....'

Asuka almost smiles at the thought of Rei trying to show affection.

'She doesn't know anything. She doesn't know how to make him happy. She doesn't know how to please anyone....' And with that thought Asuka drifts off to sleep. A sleep where she a trapped by the unwelcome thoughts she did not want to think about.

-------------

"Do you know how to make him happy?"

"...What?"

"If I don't know, do you know?"

'Where am I?' Asuka thought as she sat up. She was in the middle of a grassy field, the wind blowing softly. Rei stood in front of her, talking.

"If I can't please anyone, can you?"

"Of course I can!" Asuka shouts.

"And do you know how to make him happy?" 

"Of course I do!" 

"Then why don't you?" a voice behind her said.

"Huh?" Asuka turns around and sees the figure of Shinji. Looking almost mad.

"Why don't you?"

"I..I..." Asuka stutters unable to look at Shinji in the eye.

"Why do you torture me?" 

"I don't!" Asuka screams.

"Ayanami doesn't torture me"

"No!"

"Katharina didn't torture me"

"Shut up!"

"Why do you torture me?"

"Baka! Shut up! I don't torture you!"

----------

Shinji awoke to the sound of sirens. At first he is confused and his brain is not functioning. Suddenly a thought clicks in his head.

'Angel'

Shinji gets dressed as fast as possible and walks out of his room. No one is in sight, Misato had not come home yesterday. Shinji looks at Asuka's door remembering their encounter at the dance he night before. He sighs but decides he should wake her up and walks up to her door. He is about to knock but then the door suddenly opens and Asuka is standing there.

"Your going to hit me now?" Asuka says, looking very tired.

"Uh.. no I was just... I thought you were still asleep." Shinji says caught by surprise.

"Can you move?" Asuka says as she shoves Shinji out of the way and groggily makes her way to the kitchen.

"Did Misato call?" Asuka calls from the kitchen.

Shinji was still at Asuka's door when the phone rings.

"I guess not" Asuka says.

Shinji walks over to the phone and picks up. After a short conversation he hangs up and looks at Asuka.

"Cars outside, get to headquarters... right?" Asuka asks.

"Yeah" Shinji replies simply.

"Let's go then" Asuka says and walks out the door. Shinji follows soon after.

-----------

"An AT-Field?" Misato asks.

"It's a new way of using it. It's seems it's whole body is a living bomb" Ritsuko says and then brings up some pictures of craters being made in the ocean.

"Eh... it's pretty powerful.. How long until it reaches here?" Misato asks.

"Magi estimates about 5 hours" 

"What should we do? Your in command, now that Commander Ikari and Vice-commander Fuyutsuki are both not here"

Misato thinks for a moment and then smiles. "I have an idea"

-----------

The three Children stood at attention before Misato.

"We're going to catch it? With our bare hands?!" Asuka says in disbelief.

"That's right, we will station each Eva in a strategic position and when the target approaches each Eva with rush to the area"

A map is shown a very large part of it highlighted.

"Judging from the target's power, it can attack anywhere in this area and destroy the headquarters" 

"This is huge..." Shinji says in a soft voice.

A small beep sounds as three dots each labeled Eva Unit and a number. 

"This is where each Eva will be stationed." Misato says.

"What is the logic behind this positioning?" Rei asks.

"A guess"

"....A guess!?" Asuka says raising her voice.

"That's right woman's intuition." Misato says confidently, "I want you all to get changed and meet for a briefing"

Misato then walks away.

---------

The elevator raced up with three teenagers in it. Each one was wearing their plug suit ready for piloting. Shinji looked sullen, Rei emotionless, and Asuka impatient. Shinji opens his mouth to ask Asuka something but then decides against it and closes his mouth.

'It doesn't matter' Shinji mutters.

--------

Shinji was in the Eva Unit-01. His eyes were closed, thinking hard. He had promised Kat that he would fight, and that he would win.

'So why am I thinking like this!' Shinji thought angrily, 'but I'm thinking right. If I die, I will be able to see Kat again'

Shinji frowned imagining what Katharina would think if she caught him thinking like that. 

'She would hate me' Shinji thinks, 'I can see it clearly, she would call me stupid'

Shinji's frown was seen by both Asuka and Rei from both of their plugs. The communication channel was open and was to remain so until the end of this mission. Communication was very important for this mission, each Eva would have to perform its best in order to stop this angel. 

'What's wrong with this baka' Asuka thought, 'What is he thinking? He should be concentrating on the mission'

"Ikari-kun" 

Shinji opened his eyes, the voice belonged to Rei. Shinji looked at the picture of Rei and replied "What?"

"You seem... ill natured. Is something disturbing you?"

"Oh...uh no, it's nothing" Shinji says going slightly red.

--------

Misato smiles as she heard Rei's words. She had not expected so much of a response from Rei. When she had assigned the task of helping Shinji to the two girls, she had expected more Asuka than Rei.

'Then again, maybe Rei is the perfect girl for Shinji-kun" Misato thinks as she continues to smile.

--------

"Wondergirl worrying about someone else? What's the world coming to"Asuka mutters, but it is not unheard.

"Asuka" Misato says.

Asuka can hear the hint of a warning in Misato's voice. She decides not to respond and concentrate.

--------

"All right, is everyone ready?" Misato asks.

All three pilots nod and Misato smiles. Considering the fate of mankind rested on what they do in the next few minutes, they all seemed very calm. Misato looks at each pilot one last time. Shinji's eyes were still closed but the other two looked alert and ready.

"Shinji-kun?" Misato asks.

--------

"Let's go!" Asuka yells. Eva units 00 and 02 both start dashing toward the angel. The two jump over wires and dodge buildings. But the Eva unit 01 remains still.

"Shinji-kun what's wrong?" Misato asks. Shinji's eyes remained closed. 

"Shinji-kun!" Misato says more urgently.

"Misato what's wrong?" Asuka asks. 

"It's Shinji-kun... no never mind. Just stop that angel!" Misato says.

'Baka' Asuka thinks, 'What the hell are you thinking?'

-----------

'If I die, I can see Kat again' 

The thought repeated over and over inside of Shinji's head. Soon he had no idea where he was. Nothing was important. He just wanted to see Katharina. 

"Shinji-kun"

Shinji could hear Misato's voice in the distance. But it didn't matter. 

"Shinji-kun!" 

She was always so rowdy. She could at least leave him alone to think.

"Shinji-kun!"

Shinji's eyes shot open. 

'Huh' He thinks.

"Shinji-kun! What's the matter?!" Misato yelled desperately. Shinji immediately realizes what is happening and ejects his umbilical cable. He then urges his Eva to dash toward the angel.

----------

"We're not going to make it!" Asuka yells. She can already see the angel enclosing on the ground. She suddenly sees the purple Evangelion running at amazing speed toward the Angel.

'Shinji?' Asuka thinks.

Eva 01 stops on top of a small hill.

"AT-Field maximize!" Shinji shouts. Some of the ground around him breaks away and many things around him are destroyed. Shinji then holds his hands out preparing to catch the angel.

The angel comes to a halt as Shinji pushes it with all his might. He then starts pushing the angel back and appears as if he is going to succeed, but then the ground gives away. His feet dig into the ground, causing him to lose balance and the angel once again pushes forward.

By now the other to Evas were almost there.

"Maximize AT-Field" Rei says to Asuka.

"I know! I'm doing it!" Asuka yells and runs to help Shinji.

The three of them are able to stop the angel. They rip the AT-Field open and Asuka jabs her Prog Knife into the core. The angel falls and then explodes.

----------

My Rants

All right here's the deal. I was going to announce this later when more people give a crap, but it seems Katharina was pretty favorable. This is what I had in mind, first of all she is not alive. I will not bring her back, she won't be resurrected. I was thinking about it but it's just way too cheesy. What I am planning on doing is, and this is only if I finish this story, write another story with Katharina Hedwig in it. It will be a semi-sequel to this story. But of course, for that to work Shinji has to make some decisions at the end of this story. (You know, third impact?) and if he doesn't make the.. let's say wrong choices, no story. That's my plan for now. So what I wanted to ask is, who would actually care to read a story about life after Third Impact? I don't know the details yet, since I'm not even sure if I'm going to write it.

Oh and the German this time is probably wrong since I didn't consult anyone. When I get the right translations I will fix it.

Lass ihre in ruhe - Leave her alone

Viel Spa§ spielen mit Ihrem puppe - Have fun playing with your doll


	11. The Past and The Present

A/N: I'm not going to write for a while. I'll post in the review section when I start the next chapter.

The Past and The Present

Kensuke had repeatedly called Touji's house but always got the answering machine. He sighed angrily as he hung up the phone and laid down on his bed.

'Where could he be....' Kensuke thought, 'Maybe Shinji knows'

Kensuke quickly dialed Shinji's number. He waited patiently for it to ring over and over again until finally a machine picked up. Again and angry sigh as the 'end call' button was pressed.

-----------------

Touji stood on a sidewalk not far from the house of a certain brown haired girl. He had been there all night, but no signs of Hikari coming home. He had asked Kodama, Hikari's sister, if Hikari had come home but the answer was no. Touji could not think, he could no longer feel his legs, he felt wide awake, and he wasn't even hungry. Occasionally a dog walker or a jogger would run by. Some of them say a greeting or give some sort of gesture. Others say nothing, probably mistaking him for a statue. Suddenly a siren, that the inhabitants of Tokyo-3 knew too well, went off.

'An angel?' Touji thinks. He takes his eyes off of Hikari's house and looks around. Already, some people were racing out of their houses heading to their designated shelters. It didn't take long for Hikari's family to do the same. Touji stopped Kodama, the one he was most acquainted with.

"Did Hikari come home?" Touji asks, his voice trembling for he knew the answer.

"No" The older girl replied simply.

"Well, what are you going to do?!" Touji shouts, getting anxious.

"Nothing, she's not stupid. She'll know to go to the shelter" 

"But.."

"Come on, unless you want to die" and with that Kodama runs after her family to catch up.

Touji was left their, in the midst of so many people running for their lives. Yet he calmly stood still thinking of nothing but Hikari. 

"I have to find her" Touji says to no one in particular and runs off.

----------

"W...Wi.. Will y..you" Hikari takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. Touji stands in front of her looking unamused. Hikari continues breathing deeply looking from her feet to Touji's face and back to her feet.

"Will you go out with me?" Hikari finally asks.

Touji looks momentarily surprised but then goes back to his unamused look. To Hikari's surprise, Rei suddenly appears next to him 

"I'm sorry but-" Touji starts.

"NO!" Hikari shouts.

Suddenly everything goes black. No, Hikari was just staring into hear knees. She picks her head up and looks around. 

"A dream?" She says, knowing no one was there to hear her. She then realized what had awakened her from her nightmare. A siren. 

She stands up and opens the stall door. She was in school, in the girl's bathroom. She had heard Asuka come in last night, but Hikari had kept her feet up, and Asuka had not bothered to look into every stall. Asuka had called her name, but Hikari was not in the mood to talk at the moment. Hikari walks up to a mirror to examine herself. Her eyes were bloodshot and swelled.

'Figures' Hikari thinks. She exits the bathroom and walks toward the entrance. An angel was approaching, and she should be running to a shelter right now. But her feet refused to run. They barely agreed to walk. 

She began to tear as she thought about the night before. Nothing was important to her at the time. She could die today, and she would not care. She continued to walk and turned the cornered. Shocked is an understatement to describe Hikari's emotions.

She stood face to face with Touji. Actually it was more like face to chin since Touji was somewhat taller than her.

"Clas... Hikari" Touji says.

Hikari was lost for words. She stared blankly and then remembered she was still tearing. Hastily, she rubs the tears out of her eyes and looks back at Touji.

"What are you doing here? You should be at a shelter" Hikari says, as calm as she can.

"What about you?" 

"I..." Hikari now realizes she had no explanation. She was depressed, but it would hardly justify her endangering herself to such an extent.

"I'm sorry" Touji suddenly says.

"What?"

"I'm sorry about last night, I didn't know it would upset you"

--------------

"Why was she crying, anta baka?" Asuka says in disbelief.

Touji just looks at Asuka as they walked up the stairs of the school, in search for Hikari.

Asuka thinks for a moment. 

'I could tell him, almost everyone already knows.... But then again, what if he doesn't like her back...'

"Well?" Touji asks.

'Well, he did chase her after she left....' Asuka then says, "Because... she likes you"

"What?!" 

Asuka sighs heavily, "It's obvious! I can't believe you haven't figured it out yet"

"No she doesn't" Touji says. 

"How would you know?"

"I... well...." Touji did not know.

"She does" Asuka says firmly.

-----------

Hikari looks at Touji. Touji does the same back. He still did not believe she actually liked him, but he was pretty sure it was his fault Hikari was upset.

"I.. do you like Ayanami?" Hikari asks. The two continue to talk, completely forgetting about the angel.

-----------

"I'm sorry, because of my rash decisions the Eva unit 01 was damaged by the angel" Misato says to the screen which reads "sound only".

Misato, Ritsuko and all three pilots stood in front of the screen.

"It's not a problem. We are lucky to only have such a small casualty" The voice belonged to Fuyutsuki.

"Indeed, good work Major Katsuragi" the voice of Gendo says.  


"Thank you" Misato replies. She purposely had left out Shinji's hesitation during the attack. She knew what the consequence would be especially after his last battle.

"Is the pilot of the unit 01 there?" Gendo asks.

Shinji, startled, replies "Hai"

"Good work... Shinji" Gendo says.

Shinji, now even more startled stutters "..H...hai"

"Major Katsuragi, I will leave the rest up to you" Gendo says.

"Hai" Misato replies. The connection terminates. Misato then turns to the pilots. 

"Good work all of you. I'm taking all of you out to dinner wherever you want to go, my treat!" Misato says enthusiastically.

"Anywhere? Well then we're eating steak" Asuka says as she takes out a restaurant guide.

Shinji had no reaction to this, since he was deep in thought. His father's words echoed in his head as he envisioned Gendo saying that to him in person.

-----------------

"You're coming today, alright?" Asuka says as if it were a statement.

"No, I don't like meat" Rei says simply.

"What?!" Asuka says, "Err.... fine what if we just go have ramen?"

Rei does not respond at first but then looks back at Shinji who was trailing behind the two girls. Rei stares for a moment and then turns back to Asuka.

"I'll go" Rei says.

Asuka was annoyed with the stare Rei had given Shinji. But she decided not to mention it at the moment. She would keep it locked up in the depths of her mind, never thinking about it. Like all the other painful memories.

---------------

Touji is on his knees with tears in his eyes and blood trickling from his fist from gripping so tightly. 

---------------

Dinner was nothing special. It was a ramen stand, and not much conversation had gone on. Mostly Asuka and Misato talked while Rei and Shinji sat on either side of them and ate silently. Once in a while Asuka or Misato would attempt to include one of the two into the conversation.

"Hey Rei, how's school going for you?" Misato asked, looking over at Rei.

"There are no problems" Rei says not looking up from her food.

Misato could think of nothing else to say so after a few seconds of silence, Asuka started the conversation again. Asuka attempted as well asking Shinji "How did you like Germany?", but only got a simple "It was all right". Asuka then just shrugged and went back to talking to Misato and eating her food. Asuka was in a good mood, to say the least. She had just killed an angel and now she was eating something decent. Shinji had stopped cooking for everyone so she was forced to make herself instant food or resort to Misato's cooking. 

----------------

It was only when Asuka had returned from dinner that she remembered about the situation with Hikari and Touji. Asuka's mood went from good to bad in an instant as she ran to the phone and dialed Hikari's number.

Shinji had walked in behind Asuka and saw her running to the phone. He calmly took his shoes off and walked into the living room. He had an idea about who Asuka was calling. He had an idea who it was, and if that was the indeed the person Asuka was calling, he would not like what she was about to hear.

Shinji quickly walked into his room, got his SDAT player, and went straight to his bed. He plugged in his earphones and turned the music as loud as it would go. 

-----------------

"Guten Morgen!" can be heard several times by the students. Shinji was standing in front of his classroom door. Students went in but Shinji just stood there.

'I'm sorry Kat, I love you too much to leave you..... No way, way too corny. Hmm... I'm sorry but I broke your promise...and then I'll smile.' Shinji forces a smile but then sighs. 'Please, what the hell is that? ... Maybe if I say I missed the plane.... that might work but then she'll think I did it on purpose....' Shinji opens and closes his hand as he continues to think hard about what he was going to say to Katharina. After a while he closes and keeps the fist. 'Alright, I'll just go in there, not say anything, and see what happens'

Shinji then takes a deep breath and opens the door to his classroom. He walks in and closes the door behind him. He takes another breath and looks straight ahead as he walks to his row. He makes sure not to look in Katharina's direction for he wanted to avoid eye contact as all cost. He then looks straight at the floor as he makes his way to his seat and then sits down. He then waits for... well the unknown. Maybe a smack, maybe a yell.... maybe even a hug or a kiss.

But none comes as Shinji slowly looks toward Katharina's desk. He finds nobody sitting there. He looks around confused. He looks at all the people, making sure he was in the right class. He was, and Katharina was not here, and Shinji wanted to talk to her. Badly.

The teacher walks in and walks to her desk in the front of the room. She says "Guten Morgen". The whole class responds except for Shinji. He just looks at his desk, then stands up and runs out of the classroom. He runs down the hall. He hears his teacher screaming but that doesn't mean anything to him. Down the stairs and out the door. And then to Katharina's house. 

---------------

Shinji was panting as he staggered down the street. He had finally made it to Katharina's block. He stops against a while for a second to catch his breath. After calming down a bit he begins to walk again, but he sees to men walking out of Katharina's house. Shinji freezes and stares at the two men. They were pretty talk and were rapidly talking in German. Shinji's body goes numb as he makes out the words "Dumm madels" and "Leichen". Shinji wants to run into the house, but he doesn't as the to men turn the other way and walk. Shinji waits until they are completely out of sight and then runs into Katharina's house. 

"Kat?!" He calls, "Lea?!" 

Lea was Katharina's older sister who was also her guardian. Shinji had only briefly met her twice when she walked out while Shinji was kissing Katharina good-bye. He had not made a good impression on her so he never spoke to her again. 

Shinji walked around the house looking into every room afraid of what he might find. Afraid, and yet he needed to look in every room. He had to do it. He could feel his heart beating faster and his breathing getting heavier. He opens the closet and sees Lea in the corner of it, shot in the head. Shinji gasps sharply and quickly slams the door shut. He gasps for breath as his knees give away and he falls to the floor. After regaining himself he decides to leave.

'I can't do this' Shinji thinks as he stands up shakily. He walks back the way. As he walks past a Katharina's room he sees a door in the corner of his eye that sends a shiver down his spine. It was Katharina's closet. 

'I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away." Shinji continuously repeats in his head. He slowly makes his way into Katharina's room and toward her closet. He places his hand on the knob and then freezes.

"I mustn't run away" Shinji says out loud between his deep breaths. He then opens the door.

"Kat?" Shinji says in a whisper.

A cough is heard and then some attempts to say something.

"S....Sh.... Shin....j..ji?" Katharina says barely audible.

"Kat who did this?" Shinji asks.

Katharina coughs violently.

"I....I'll get help!" Shinji says loudly. "I'll be right back! Hold on!" 

Katharina takes a deep breath and whispers "No"

"What?"

"I'm doing to die. There's no running from it. I want to talk to you until...."

"Kat your not-" Shinji immediately stops talking when he hears Katharina's voice.

"G...Go.. b..ack" 

"I...."

"L..et. m..me" she coughs again and then wheezes as she takes a deep breath.

"Let m..me die i.n. peace..." Katharina says as she forces the weakest smile. But Shinji does not see it, for he cannot bear to look at her.

"Kat you're going to live"

"Promi...se m..." Katharina takes another breath, "Me" she finishes.

Shinji closes his eyes in an attempt to stop the tears. He then crouches to look at Katharina. Her body was covered in blood and one of her eye was gashed. But Shinji stares intently.

"I promise" Shinji says firmly.

Katharina smiles, this time it is genuine and this time Shinji sees it.

"I..m sorry"

"What?" Shinji asks.

Katharina coughs once and then takes a deep breath. She then attempts to clear her throat. Her voice was surprisingly steady and almost normal.

"I bet I have a really ugly smile right now, so I'm sorry" Katharina says. She then coughs one last time and the smile disappears from her face, forever. Shinji stares at Katharina. Urging her to move. Just move a little. Or take one tiny breath. He waited in vain.

Shinji's eyes dilated. He opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out. He fell backwards and crawled backwards away from the closet. He attempted to scream again, but again no voice came. He looked at Katharina again, her face looked lifeless. Disgusted Shinji kicks the door closed. 

Shinji stares at the door for a long time. He then breaks down and starts sobbing, with his head between his knees. 

-------------

My Rants

I think this chapter is pretty long. At least it seemed so when I was writing it. Anyway, I'm not going to start the next chapter for a while. A bunch of crap going on in my life. Yeah, I'll probably be back by March though. Because I know all of you are dying to read more of my writing. lol I'm joking of course. All right I didn't consult my translator once again but this is what the German is supposed to say.

Dumm madels - Stupid girls

Leichen - Body or Dead body

Guten Morgen - Is obviously good morning I can't get that wrong.... I think

Thanks for the reviews!

Oh I need some advice. For the future. I've decided I am going to write a "sequel" to this after I'm done. I'm going ot have Kat in it but I'm probably either going to make Evangelions, Angels, etc a minor part in the story if any at all. So it will focus more on Shinji, his classmates, regular every day stuff, etc. So here's my opinion, should I make more (by more I mean 1 or 2) characters that are about Shinji's age and have them in his class? I will of course include the adults but I think it's still not enough to make a story out of. The thing is I hate author created characters. Maybe not hate but highly dislike. I love doing it but I hate reading about them. So whatever, tell me your opinion guys. If it's going to be a really thought out one (like more than a yes or a no) I would appreciate it if you email it to me. Oh well, read and review please!


	12. Room 506

Room 506

'Where am I' Shinji thinks. He could see nothing but darkness all over him. No matter how far he looked only nothingness met his eyes. 

Shinji sighs, 'Where am... wait are my eyes closed?' Shinji thinks. 

Shinji-kun?

"Wha...what?" Shinji says out loud, startled.

This is a dream

"W...where am I? Who are you!?"

You don't remember me?

"Kat?"

Shinji's question was met by a short giggle.

"What?" 

She's right, you dwell too much on the past.

"Who's right? What are you talking about!?"

You may have so many chances, but you'll miss them all if you go on like this. 

"Like what?"

Like this. 

"W...what?"

You killed her.

"......."

You did, you killed her.

"I..."

What are you going to do? Run away? I doubt you'll face it. You never do.

"I....."

You killed her! He's going to go through what you were forced to go through.

"No, Kat means more than her."

To you.

"....."

What do you want to do to the person who killed her? What would you do if you saw him face to face.

"I would... I .." Suddenly the thought Shinji had about his eyes being closed crosses his mind. He feels for his eyes and confirms they were indeed closed. Shinji tries to open them.

I wouldn't do that if I were you. Not that it matters as of now. 

"What? Why?"

Trust me. You'll be better off if you listen to me.

"....."

He's going to kill you.

"He's my friend" Immediately after Shinji says those words memories flashed through his mind. Of when he first came to this school.

*Flashback*

"If I don't hit you, I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life!" Touji says as his fist connects with Shinji's face.

"His sister got caught in the midst of the last battle. She's in the hospital but apparently she's not doing to well" Kensuke says to Shinji.

*End Of Flashback*

Remember that, Shinji-kun?

"He wasn't my friend then"

I don't think it really matters what you are to him. The bottom line is-

"Shut up! I don't want to listen to you!" Shinji again goes to open his eyes but is unable to. He willed it, but it just didn't happen. 

*Flashback*

'Huh?' Shinji was standing up. He looks around, it was not his room. It was... Katharina's.

'What the hell' Shinji thinks as he moves away from the front door. He begins to walk toward Katharina's room. 

'Why am I walking?' Shinji thinks as he continues to walk. It was as though his mind and body were no longer one. He walks into her room and sees Touji there. Aiming a gun at Katharina. 

'No!' Shinji attempts to scream, but no words come out. He tries to run toward Touji, but his body does not move. Touji smiles and fires.

'No! Stop! Touji!' 

Touji continues to fire and then stops. Katharina's body lies unmoving, on the floor. Blood begins to pour out of the wounds.

Shinji, suddenly in control of his body runs at Touji and knocks him over. He picks up the gun and aims it at Touji's head.

*End of Flashback*

See, I told you it doesn't matter.

Shinji sobs muttering "Kat" over and over again. 

I think you understand now. So, what are you going to do?

Shinji does nothing but repeats the name he wanted to call out. 

Well? What are you going to do?

"Leave me alone!"

Fine

------------

Shinji wakes up in his bed. He takes the earphones out of his ears and sits up on his bed.

"No battery" His SDAT player reads. Shinji sighs and plugs it into the socket to charge. 

He is startled when he suddenly hears heavy knocking on his door.

"Baka Shinji, wake up! I need breakfast!"

Shinji breathes heavily for a few seconds before crawling into bed, once again.

"Can you hear me! I said wake up! We're going to be late!"

"I'm not going to school today" Shinji says from under his covers.

"What!" 

Shinji hears his door open and then close. He braces himself as the footsteps get closer to his bed.

"Baka! Wake up!" Asuka yells as she attempts to rip the covers off of Shinji. But Shinji had expected this so he clings on to them tightly.

"I said I'm not going to school today" Shinji says again.

"I don't care whether you go to school or not, but you have to make breakfast."

"I never make breakfast" Shinji replies. 

"Well starting today you're going to. You don't expect me to live like this forever do you?"

Shinji groans before saying "I'm not making breakfast".

Asuka stares at Shinji, or rather the lump in the covers. She stares intently, and after convincing herself that he is not going to look at her, she smiles.

"Fine! Be like that!" Asuka yells.

Shinji doesn't respond. Asuka is still smiling as she mutters "I'll get you tomorrow...."

She walks out of Shinji's room met by Misato. 

"Don't bother, he says he's not going to school today" Asuka says quickly. 

"I know, I heard the both of you arguing like a married couple" Misato says smiling evilly.

Asuka goes slightly red and then attempts to walks around Misato. Misato quickly moves out of the way and Asuka walks toward the cabinets in search for something to eat.

"You seem friendly today" Misato says as she walks toward the refrigerator.

"So what?" Asuka says, picking up pack of cup noodles.

"And he seemed more.... normal today" Misato says seriously.

"...I know" Asuka says.

"Is it Rei?" Misato asks as she sits down at the table with a beer in her hand.

Asuka laughs. To Misato it was a mocking laugh, but in reality a nervous one.

"Please, that doll?"

"It's the only reasonable explanation, unless you did anything" Misato says.

Asuka doesn't respond. She stands in the kitchen waiting for her hot water to boil.

"Well anyway, I guess Rei can probably finish the job" 

Asuka turns around with a look of fury in her eyes. "What are you saying? That the doll can do what I can't?"

Misato takes a sip of her beer before responding, "No, I'm just saying it's a possibility that she will accomplish this assignment. And since you neglected it so much, I'm glad Rei has the capability."

"If anyone get's Shinji.... back to normal, as you say, it's going to be me" Asuka says.

"Really..." Misato says, with a hint of sarcasm.

"Of course! I can get the baka to dance around in circles if I wanted to." Asuka says. She turns back around at her hot water, which was ready, and pours it into her noodles.

"Well, we're all counting on one of you" Misato says.

-----------

'That doll beating me? Please, what's Misato thinking. Just because I didn't want to talk to that baka, doesn't mean I'm going to lose to a doll' Asuka thinks as she walks to school. She was thinking confidently now, but soon enough, her doubts would catch up with her. Asuka remembers Misato talking to her and Rei about Shinji.

'The assignment is get closer to him' Asuka remembers and then laughs, 'How stupid does she think I am? She just wants someone to be his girlfriend..... to help him heal.'

Asuka then remembers the determined look on Rei's face.

"She doesn't know the first thing about relationships" Asuka says out loud, in an attempt to convince herself.

------------

Touji wasn't in school today, and neither was Hikari, as Asuka expected. Rei sat staring out the window as always, and Shinji's desk remained empty for the rest of the day. After school Asuka walked out of the school building, alone. She headed toward the hospital. 

Many thoughts about Hikari went through her mind. as she walked to the hospital. She recapped the phone call from the night before.

*****

"Hello, may I speak to Hikari?" Asuka says as she hears a "Hello" that was almost inaudible.

"Is this Asuka?"

"Yes, is Hikari home?" Asuka asked, worried at the hint distraughtness in the voice.

"No.... she's at the hospital"

"Wha....What happened?"

*****

The conversation had ended there. Asuka had to ask Misato to check what hospital Hikari was staying. Misato had refused at first but after a lot of yelling, Asuka had her way.

Asuka walked listlessly. She was going to drag Shinji along with her. She figured Touji would be there, and Shinji could have been a big help cheering up Touji, but that plan had been foiled. Not that she thought Shinji would cheer up anyone anyway, but it would have been a good plan. She now just walked, not wanting to think about anything. 

---------------

Shinji laid on his bed. He had been awake for a few hours now, but he just didn't want to get up. Misato was at headquarters and would not return till late. Asuka would probably be visiting Hikari. 

'I have a long time to myself' Shinji thought.

He could do nothing but think. He had been thinking ever since he had awaken. After a while he decides to get up.

"I have to do something" Shinji says to himself. "I'll make myself something to eat"

Shinji gets up and walks out of his room. He looks in the refrigerator to find nothing he can use. Ever since Shinji had gotten back from Germany, he had stopped cooking. Misato and Asuka were not up to take up the job so the three just lived on instant food and take out. He sighs as he closed the refrigerator and walks back to his room. He grabs some clothes and take a long shower.

---------------

Asuka takes a deep breath in front of room 506. There were six slots next to the room number but only one of them had a name. Horaki, it read. Asuka opens the door and walks in. She walks over to the bed silently. 

"Hey" Asuka says somewhat nervously.

"Hey" Hikari responds.

"I thought Touji would be here" Asuka says as she sits down next to Hikari.

"He is, he just went to check on his sister" 

"Oh you guys are in the same-"

"Yes" Hikari says.

The two were silent for a good two minutes before Hikari broke it.  


"Do you know?"

"About what?" Asuka asks, playing dumb.

Hikari just stares in silence until Asuka can take no longer.

"Yes.." Asuka replies softly.

Another awkward silence. This time, Asuka is the one to break it.

"Does Touji?"

"Yes"

"How is he.... taking it?" Asuka asks.

"Not well, I was hoping you would bring Shinji-kun. He needs a friend to talk to right now"

"That baka didn't go to school today"

"Oh... is he sick?" Hikari asks, looking worried.

"No, he's probably just having another one of those days"

"He has them quite often" Hikari says.

"Yeah.... I guess he does"

Again silence until Touji walks into the room.

"Soryu..." Touji says in a voice that resembled Rei.

"Hi" Asuka says as she looks up at Touji. He didn't look well. A mixture of lack of sleep and depression.

Touji sit's down on the seat on the other side of Hikari. The three were silent. Had Asuka known about Hikari, she could have braced herself, but now she was just in shock. She didn't know what to say. Touji was just blank and Hikari was in no position to make much conversation. But she did detest the silence.

"Could you two go get me something to drink?" Hikari asked.

"Sure" Asuka replied almost instantly. Touji just stood up and walked to the door. Asuka's gaze follows him and then back to Hikari. Hikari smiles at Asuka. A genuine smile, or so it seemed to Asuka, yet it pained her so much.

------------

"I thought you'd bring Shinji" Touji says looking straight ahead. The two had to go to the bottom floor to get drinks so they headed for the elevator.

"He didn't go to school today" Asuka responds.

"Oh..." Touji says, and then laughs "Damn, I wanted to talk to him"

"Why are you laughing?" Asuka asks looking genuinely confused.

"Because I don't know what the hell else to do!" Touji says raising his voice, his smile turning into an expression of anger.

"Wha...." 

"Do you know the story? Did you talk to Shinji?" Touji says, his voice still raised.

Asuka pushes the button for the elevator. 

"Yes...no" Asuka replies, finally understanding what Touji was talking about. 

"Then what? Do you know what I'm talking about?" Touji asks.

"The central dogma monitors all movements of the Eva. They can see everything that the pilot can see. And they have other cameras monitoring the surroundings. Everyone at Nerv knows and Misato told me yesterday"

"....."

"What did you have planned for Shinji? A punch in the face?" Asuka asks, using an unimpressed tone. The elevator doors open and the two get in. Touji pushes the button labeled 1.

"No.... of course not. He does what he has to do, and besides he might not even have saw us" Touji says.

'By the way he was acting, it seems he did' Asuka thinks but then says, "Well, if you guys want to talk it's not of my business, you get him to talk to you"

"Well, you have to get him to come here" Touji says.

"What?! Are you kidding, talk to him in school or something!" 

"I'm not going to school until she is better" Touji says simply, the two then walk out of the elevator and walk toward the drink machines.

"Err...." Asuka could think of nothing to say back. If she had the courage to stay as well, she would have. "Fine! But if he's stubborn, I'm not trying too hard" 

"Just get him to come"

"I'm not making promises"

Touji sighs and decides this was the best he was going to get. Normally he wouldn't ask Asuka for anything, but he did want to talk to Shinji and he refused to leave Hikari's side for more than a few moments.

"So.... what do we get?" Asuka says.

Touji looks at all the drinks, from top to bottom. 

"I don't know, did she say what she wanted?"

Asuka starts inserting money and replies "No"

"What are you doing?" Touji asks.

"Getting myself a drink of course" Asuka says and then pushes the button for coffee.

"You know that stunts your growth?" Touji says.

Asuka laughs, "That's just something parents tell their kids when their young so they won't drink coffee" she says.

"Oh..." Touji says. Asuka opens her can of coffee and starts drinking it.

"You never figured this out? Didn't they tell you?"

"I guess they didn't live long enough to break it to me"

"...." Asuka sips her coffee, "Their dead?" 

"Yep" Touji says and then begins inserting money into the vending machine.

"Oh..." Asuka sighs and begins drinking her coffee in silence. Seeing that Touji was not going to make conversation, Asuka closes here eyes and starts to think. She attempted to think happy thoughts but when one is sad, everything just seems depressing. After a while Asuka makes herself stop and looks over at Touji.

"Are you done yet?" She asks.

"Almost" Touji says as he proceeds inserting money and buying a drink.

"What are you doing? How much are you expecting her to drink?"

"Well we don't know what she wants so I'll give her a selection."

"Shouldn't you buy like a couple? Not all of them?" Asuka asks.

"I want to give her a good selection" was the simple answer she received.

"Boys are stupid" Asuka says but in her mind she had a new respect for Touji.

-------------

Shinji walks out of the shower feeling refreshed but thirsty. He walks to the refrigerator and opens it to find nothing to drink except beer. Shinji sighs and sits at the dining table. 

'I'm thirsty' Shinji thinks, 'Why the hell is there nothing to drink!? What do they expect me to do everything!?'

He puts his head down in frustration but then bolts up again. 

"Can't Asuka and Misato just do _something _for me? Anything? Can't they buy drinks so I won't be thirsty?" Shinji says out loud 

Suddenly, the doorbell rings. 

'Huh?' Shinji thinks and walks toward the door. Then a thought enters his head and he stops. 

'Maybe it's Touji....' Shinji thinks. Shinji stands about four feet away from the door, frozen. The bell rings again and Shinji flinches at the sound of it. 

'I'm not home' Shinji thinks to himself. After a while the bell rings one more time before Shinji hears footsteps walking away. Shinji sighs in relief yet a feeling stirred inside of him.

'I'm such a coward' Shinji thinks, "I mustn't run away'

Shinji takes a deep breath and runs for the door. He pushes the button to open it and runs outside.

"Touji!" he yells.

"Ikari-kun?" 

Shinji was met by a female voice, which was unexpected. He was also met by red eyes, which was even more unexpected. 

"Uh.... Ayanami?"

"You mistaked me for Suzuhara-kun?" 

"I... I did" 

"..."

The silence was uncomfortable for Shinji so he began thinking of what he can say. He slapped himself when he realized how obvious it was.

"Do you want to come in?" Shinji asks.

"... Yes" Rei says.

--------------

'Errr... well' Shinji thought as he stared blankly at the refrigerator. 'There's nothing to drink, so I can't offer anything' Shinji then noticed Rei staring at him from the doorway.

"Uh, you can sit down if you want"

Rei silently walks toward the table and takes a seat. She then continues to stare at Shinji.

"Well.... I would offer you something to drink but all we have is beer" 

"Is there something wrong with it?" Rei asks.

"Huh? Oh...ummm... well no but-" 

"Is it Major Katsuragi's? Is that why you cannot offer it to me?" 

"No...well..." Shinji thought for a moment, "Yes" he says.

"I see"

......

......

......

"I'll go buy something" Shinji says after a few minutes of silence. He suddenly realized how stupid he was thinking, getting so angry over a simple drink, or lack there of.

"What do you want?" Shinji asks after he realized Rei wasn't going to say anything.

"Not many things" Rei responds simply.

"I mean to drink" Shinji says.

"....." Rei looks troubled for a moment, "What do I have to choose from?"

"Uh..." Shinji was caught off guard, "Well I guess whatever the store has..."

"And what does the store have?"

"Do you just want to come with me?" Shinji asks. 

"That's an efficient way" Rei says as she stands up and puts on her shoes.

Shinji sighs and once again was amazed by Rei's.... uniqueness. 

'Now this, is going to be an awkward day' Shinji thinks as he follows Rei out the door and locks it behind him.

---------------

My Rant

Wow finally. I mean seriously, I was on vacation but it did end a while ago. Oh well, anyway I apologize for the delay of this chapter. I tried to make it somewhat better than the others to make up for it, but then again if I had the capability to write well I would always be doing it. Ah well. So, in the near future I'm going to need help translating a lot of German. And this time I don't mean phrases and such, I mean speeches, etc. I guess I kinda gave away some of my story just now but that's okay. So anyway if anyone is willing to translate for me, email me, it will be greatly appreciated. Oh also, I didn't kill of Touji's parents. I figured they were dead because in Evangelion he says something like "I don't have anyone to make lunch for me". It doesn't sound as stupid as that but in context it hints either his parents are dead or they can't do their parental duties for other reasons. So I chose dead. Oh one more thing, now that I'm looking back at my story it seems to be getting a little too depressing. I think writing about depressing things more than happy thoughts so I think that might be influencing it. If it gets out of hand, tell me. 


	13. A Day With Rei

A day with Rei (Hey it rhymes!)

Shinji and Rei were riding up the elevator, Shinji holding two bags of groceries and Rei holding one. Shinji was still slightly red from the event that occured at the supermarket.

*****

"We have absolutely nothing in the fridge" Shinji said to a confused looking Rei. Shinji had a cart full of food, drinks, etc. Rei had been walking behind him the whole time observing Shinji as he placed many items into the cart. They were now about to pay for everything and the cashier was taking a long time counting up all the items.

"Doesn't Major Katsuragi and Pilot Soryu buy..... that" Rei says as she looks at the groceries. She didn't quite know the right term to use.

"I don't think either one of them can cook" Shinji replies.

"....."

"They survive on instant food" Shinji clarifies. 

"I see..." Rei says somewhat distantly.

"What do you do at home? Do you cook?" Shinji asked, expecting the answer to be no.

"Sometimes" Rei says.

"What?"

"Sometimes" Rei repeats in the same tone.

"Ayanami, you cook?" 

"Yes..." Rei says somwhat confused at Shinji's lack of understandment, "Sometimes"

It took a little while for Shinji to digest that. An image of Rei wearing a cute apron humming a tune while cooking made him smile. Only when the cashier gave him the total did he snap back to reality. Shinji paid tha cashier and picked up all three bags.

"I'll hold one" Rei offers.

Shinji, caught somewhat off guard by Rei's willingness to help stuttered "No, that's okay". The two walked out and headed back to the apartment. Halfway there Shinji regretted declining Rei's offer. The bags were very heavy.

Rei watched silently as Shinji struggled with the bags. 'I offered help' Rei thought, 'And he declined, so he must not need assistance'

Shinji, who was concentrating on the bags, did not see the sidewalk ending and becoming a street. He tripped, fell, and two of the bags spilled.

"Ikari-kun, are you sure you do not need assistance?" Rei asks again, although she was still quite unsure if he needed help or not.

"Uh... actually could you take this bag?" Shinji asks. Rei takes the bag that did not spill and after Shinji collects everything back into the bag, he picks them up and continues the journey home

******

And now here he was riding the elevator up the the apartment. They two walked silentely out of the elevator and to the door. Shinji opened it and the two put the bags on the floor next to the refrigerator.

"I'm going to put everything into the fridge, just make yourself at home" Shinji says as he begins taking things out of the bags and putting them into the refrigerator.

"...." Rei just stands there looking confused.

"I mean you can go do anything you want. You know, watch TV or something." Shinji says again begin reminded of Rei's strangeness. (A/N: If that's even a word)

"TV?" Rei asks curiously.

Shinji remembers there had been no TV at Rei's house. Actually it would be more wierd if she did have one, considering he character.

"Uh, it's that thing over there" Shinji says pointing at the television. He walks over to the couch and get's the remote. "

Here, this is to change the channel, this is volume" Shinji says as Rei walks toward him. He hands her the remote and Rei pushes the channel button that Shinji just pointed out to her. 

"Oh you have to turn it on first" Shinji said "Just-"

A click is heard and the TV is turned on. Rei had guessed the power key controls the power. Rei stares intently at the TV absorbing everything that went on.

'Phew' Shinji thinks, 'That will take care of awkwardness for a while' and with that he goes back to the groceries.

---------

It had taken Shinji longer than expected to find a place for everything to go. Rei had not said a single word to him, she just watched the screen. Some movie was on, Shinji did not know what it was. He walks over to the couch and sits down next to Rei. It was already six o'clock, and Shinji was getting hungry.

"Are you going to have dinner here?" Shinji asks when a commercial break comes up.

Rei looks over at Shinji as if she just noticed he was sitting there. "May I?" Rei asks.

"Sure, I don't mind, but I have to say I haven't cooked in a while so I might be rusty" Shinji says.

"I don't understand" Rei says simply.

"Nevermind, I'm going to cook" Shinji says as he stands up, smiling.

"May I help?" Rei asks.

"Uh... I guess if you don't mind" Shinji says, again surprised by Rei.

"It would please me" Rei says as she stands. The two go to the kitchen and get started. Rei opens the refrigerator and finds more than half of the space being taken up by beers. Rei stared at them, very interested.

"What's that matter?" Shinji asks after a while.

"This must be a very good drink if Major Katsuragi has so much of it" Rei states.

Shinji decides not to explain what an alcoholic was. 

"May I try one?" Rei asks. 

"Um... sure I guess she won't really mind but-"

"Thank you" Rei says as she takes a can out of the fridge.

"Wait the thing is that it-"

"Would you like one as well?" Rei asks, not meaning to interrupt.

"Um... no thanks. I don't think it tastes good"

"I see" Rei says as she opens the can.

Shinji thinks about this for a moment. She probably will not like it if it's her first time, but then again he was still letting a minor drink. He was sure Misato wouldn't mind but what if she lieks it? The thought of Rei being drunk scared him. 

"Uh Rei, would you mind only taking a little?"

Rei took a sip and put the can down, "It has a.... distinct taste" 

"You don't like it?"

"I believe other drinks are much better tasting." Rei says. 

Shinji sighs in relief and then goes back to cooking. 

Rei is silent for a while looking back and forth from the can and Shinji. She then says, "Aren't you going to try any?"

"Huh?" Shinji says confused, "Oh... well... I guess so....." He walks over to the can and takes a sip. He immediately puts it down in disgust.

"It's horrible" Shinji says wiping his mouth and going to the refrigerator to get a drink.

"Oh... I'm sorry?" Rei says in a somewhat confused tone, yet she still somehow managed to sound monotoned.

"Why?" He asks.

"Well, if I had not suggested for you to drink any, you would not have been horrified" Rei says.

"Oh.. no it's not that bad. I just don't like it. Don't worry about it" Shinji says as he sips on his drink, "Do you want a drink?"

"No" Rei says and then walks over to the kitchen to cook.

Shinji watches her for a while and then puts his drink down and goes as well.

---------

"Why are you acting so different?" Shinji asks after a long period of silence and cooking. He could no longer stand the question that had beein lingering in his mind and annoying him like an itch he couldn't reach. Only after he said the words did he realize how blunt the question had been.

Rei didn't respond and continued her cooking. Shinji, who thought he had offended her, says "I mean-" but was interrupted.

"What do you mean?" Rei says not looking at Shinji.

"Well you're usually more... well... " Shinji tried to find the right words, "reserved" he finishes.

Again Rei does not respond for a while, only after Shinji had given up talking did she say "I wanted to get closer to you", repeating Misato's words.

"Oh..." Shinji says, a bit taken back. 

Suddenly the door opened and Asuka walks in. 

"Tadaima" she says as she slips off her shoes. She then looks up and sees an unexpected guest. Her emotion of sadness that had lingered from her visit to the hospital turned to annoyance.

"What is she doing here?" Asuka asks, not bothering to be polite.

Shinji, although disapproving of Asuka's tone of voice, replies "Ayanami came after school" 

"I see" Asuka says, trying not to look angry. Then the open can of beer reaches her line of sight. So much for trying.

"And what the hell is _that_ doing here!" Asuka yells while pointing at the beer on the table.

Shinji, at first not knowing what Asuka is talking about follows her finger and sees the fcan.

"Uh that... well uh..." 

"Ikari-kun and I tried some" Rei says not looking up from her cooking.

Only then did Asuka realize Rei was cooking. "What the hell are you doing?" Asuka asks regardless.

"Cooking" Rei says simply.

"....Why?" Asuka asks, genuinely confused.

"To assist Ikari-kun", again a simple answer.

Asuka, now filled with fury storms out of the dining room and into her room. Rei continues cooking and Shinji looks confused.

"Uh..." Shinji says trying to find something to say.

"Ikari-kun, the fire is too strong"

"Huh? Oh.." Shinji says as he turns down the fire.

The two then continue cooking in silence.

------------

Rants

Yes it's short, but I typed it up pretty quickly so it's expected. I was actually going to have this in the other chapter but I forgot, so I decided to put it up as soon as possible. Well, I have no other comments (for once), please R+R.


	14. Cooking

Cooking

An office in Nerv headquarters. An office just like many of the other offices lined up next to it. All with the same computer, desk, coffee maker, chairs, etc. And in the chair behind the computer sat Doctor Akagi Ritsuko, with a coffee stain on her white lab coat. She cleaned her mouth with a napkin, and then her coat as much as possible. She recomposed herself, again as much as possible, and turned back to the girl standing in front of the door. 

"Excuse me. I'm sorry what did you say Rei?" Ritsuko asked politely.

"I asked of a favor of you. For you to teach me how to cook, that is if your duty permits." Rei said, in the same monotoned voice she used previously.

"Well, yes I could, but... why would you want to learn? Doesn't Commander Ikari take care of all your meals?" Ritsuko asked.

"I have an objective to complete and it requires that skill to complete it" Rei said.

"Well, are you talking about Misato's assignment to you and Asuka?" Ritsuko asked.

Rei stands in silent for a moment before replying, "Yes, it is"

"Well, I can teach you when I'm off work today I guess..." Ritsuko said, "can you meet me outside headquarters at five?" 

Rei nods and begins to walk out the door. Ritsuko stops her by asking "Do you have a plan Rei?" 

Rei stands in the doorway not facing Ritsuko. She then replies "I don't know" and walks into the hallway, the door closing behind her.

Ritsuko slumps down her her chair and closes her eyes. After a while she reopens them and examined her coat again. 

"I guess I'll get it changed" Ritsuko says to herself and walks out of the room. 

--------------

Shinji knocked on Asuka's door for the fifth time. "Soryu, dinner's ready...." 

"I'm not eating" Asuka says.

"Come on, just come and eat with us" Shinji tries again.

"I'm not eating with her and I'm not hungry!" Asuka yells loudly, "I'm not having the greatest day of my life right now and I'm sure YOU know why?!" 

Shinji stood there stunned by her loud voice and sharp words. He then just walked into the dining room and sat down to eat. Rei was already seated. Rei then said in a soft voice "Itadakimasu.." and slowly began eating.

"Itadakimasu.." Shinji says unenthusiastically and begins eating, not caring about Rei saying something that polite. Or even knowing how.

---------------

"Thanks for helping me make dinner" Shinji says, "are you sure you don't want me to walk you?"

"It's not necessary" Rei says as she walks out of the apartment. 

"Uh.. well see you tomorrow, I guess" Shinji says.

Rei turns around, nods, and walks to the elevator. Shinji watches until she gets in and the doors close. He then closes the door and walks into the kitchen. Rei had helped clean up and the leftovers, which was a lot since they had cooked for four people, was wrapped and put in the refrigerator. He begins to think of something to do when Asuka's door opens and she walks out dressed in her nightwear. 

"Did she leave?" Asuka asks as she walks into the kitchen. 

"Yeah, you could've at least came out to say good-bye" Shinji says.

Asuka does not respond and sits down at the table. Shinji sighs and opens the refrigerator and takes out the leftovers. He puts one of the plates into the microwave and sets the timer. He then sits across from Asuka.

"I'm not eating it" Asuka says stubbornly.

"I know you're hungry, and what's starving yourself going to do for you?" Shinji asks.

"I'm not eating anything _she_ made" Asuka says emphasizing the she.

"Come on, it's pretty good" Shinji says, trying again.

Asuka glared at him as if he had insulted her. She continued to glare until the microwave beeped and Shinji walked over to it. He took the plate out and replaced it with another, then set the timer once again. Again he sat down placing the first plate in front of Asuka.

Asuka just stared unimpressively at the food. 

"It's good, trust me" Shinji says.

"Shut up! I don't care if it's good, I'm not eating it" Asuka says not taking her sight off the food.

The two sit in silence until the microwave beeps again, and Shinji repeats his previous procedure. This happens two more times until the last plate was put in the microwave and had been heated. Shinji places it, along with the other plates in front of Asuka who had still not eaten any of it. Shinji stares for a while, then shrugs and walks into his room. 

Asuka continues to stare at the food that was mocking her so much. Her stare transformed into a glare and then into a face filled with anger and frustration.

"I'm not hungry...." She muttered as she took a bite.

---------

Rei walked through her door that was never locked. She walked to her bed and stripped herself of all her clothes. She then lies down and drifts to sleep. Whenever Rei slept, she was thoughtless. She just focused on sleeping. No troubling thoughts, nor pleasing ones. No remorses, no guilt, no nothing. Just sleep. It is a wonderful gift.

--------

My Rants

I'm thinking of skipping the next angel. You know, the one that takes over the Eva during some tests and they're all naked so they can't leave their plugs when they get ejected. But I don't know, tell me what you guys think. Oh and sorry for the shortness of the chapter considering how long I took posting it. I started writing a somewhat rough draftish kinda thing for the prologish kind of thing for a possible sequel to it. Why the wierd wording because it was basically me playing with ideas and seeing how I could go from them. I didn't get very far considering how much time I took doing it. Also I remember sometime one of my friends told me I should always think of the beginning and the end of the story before I start writing one, and I didn't do that for this so I figured it's a good time. Anyway thanks guys for the reviews. 


	15. Angel Invasion

Angel Invasion

"Sound Only" the screen read. Shinji stared at it for there was nothing else to look at. Now and again he would hear Asuka say something pointless to him such as, "When are we going to get out of this mess" or "Wondergirl can't cook for her life". But like all pointless conversations do, they eventually came to an end and an awkward silence echoed through the two children's Evas. This was one of those silences.

Shinji continued staring at the screen. Asuka had made it like that after realizing that she was naked in her entry plug and if the two were to communicate, Shinji would see her. Rei had not attempted to communicate with either child, she had not said a word since they three were ejected from their evas and evacuated from the experiment.

"Ikari-kun?" Shinji heard a voice say. He looked away from the screen and turned to a new one that had suddenly appeared. That's when he saw Rei sitting in her entry plug completely naked. 

"Uh..wha?...." Shinji stuttered, "A...Ayanami?" 

"I was wondering if you could teach me how to cook sometime.... What's the matter?" Rei asks when she sees Shinji's embarassed face.

"Well... uh..." Shinji quickly pushed the 'sound only' button and the screens in each pilots entry plug switched to 'Sound Only'. 

"..." Rei remains silent.

"So what were you saying Ayanami?" Shinji asks, calming down.

"I was wondering if you could teach me how to cook" 

"But you can cook already" Shinji says.

"Not many things" Rei responds, "And not very adequately"

"What? Ayanami you're a great cook" Shinji says, meaning every word. 

"Uh..." Rei slightly goes red, "Thank you"

"Mein Gott! I can't take this anymore! Can you two shut up, your making me sick!"

Asuka had apparently been listening to the conversation. 

"Soryu, we're just making conversation to pass the time while Doctor Akagi fixes the problem and comes to get us" Shinji says.

"Well can't you talk without saying phrases that will make a normal person throw up? I'm sure the doll knows she can cook, she's just fishing for compliments"

"Soryu-", but Shinji was cut off by Rei.

"I'm not a doll" Rei says. 

"Yeah, so who told you that you should learn to cook? Was it Misato?" 

"I asked Doctor Akagi to teach me" 

"That must've been easy, you're good at being told what to do. You must have learned so quickly, how amazing" Asuka said sarcastically.

"Soryu" Shinji says in a threatening tone.

"Just because you're depressed doesn't give you the right to insult others" Rei says coldly, knowing exactly what Asuka was upset about.

Asuka was in shock and glared at Rei's screen, although she knew Rei couldn't see it.

"Well if it weren't for Shinji here, I wouldn't be in this mood now would I?" Asuka says maliciously.

Shinji just stares at the blank screen not saying anything?

"Got nothing to say?! You know it's true! It's your fault! It's your fault Hikari is paralyzed!" Asuka yells. This was followed by a silence which lasted until a rescue crew came and picked up the three pilots.

-----------

Rei walked out of the office that Misato was working at after thanking her for her time. She than began walking to the exit of Nerv Headquarters.

By the time the three pilots had gotten back, it had already been pretty late. Shinji and Asuka left right after thet changed but Rei had some things she wanted to discuss with Misato. 

Rei headed out into the street. She began walking when she caught sight of a brown haired boy sitting on a bench, facing down. 

"Ikari-kun?" Rei asked, not sure if it was indeed him.

Shinji's head shot up and looked at Rei. It took a moment for him realize where he was.

"Oh Rei, are you walking home?" he asks.

"Yes" Rei responds.

"Well...I'll walk with you" Shinji says. Rei just nods and begins walking, Shinji follows her.

-----------

"Is it my fault?" Shinji suddenly asks while Rei and him are waiting at the light.

Rei just looks straight ahead not responding.

"Is it? Is it my fault Ayanami?" Shinji asks raising his voice.

"I don't know" Rei says after a moment, "But even if it was, it doesn't matter"

"Wha..What do you mean, it doesn't matter. Of course it matters!" Shinji says.

"She would have been dead if you had not done what you did. Her and many others too" Rei says not looking at Shinji.

Shinji cannot think of anything to say to that. It was true, but in Shinji's mind, it didn't seem like a fair way to justify anything.

-----------

Shinji came home to the sound of the television. He walked it and removed his shoes. Asuka did not even awknowledge him, and kept her eyes on the TV.

Shinji finished removing his shoes and walked toward his room.

"I forgot to tell you before but Touji wants to see you" Asuka says, turning the volume down on the TV.

Shinji stops walking and stands frozen in palce.

"He asked me to convince you to go, so make my life easier and just go" Asuka says.

"I'm not going" Shinji says still standing in the same place, staring at the floor.

"I knew you'd say that, but you're going. Do it for his sake, he's pretty torn apart by this" Asuka says, keeping a casual tone.

"I'm not going" Shinji says again, in a louder voice.

"Mein Gott! What's wrong with you? Are you that much of a coward? Just go and face him!" Asuka yells as she get's up and walks up to him.

"I'm a coward? Soryu, I was going to kill them. I saw them at that last second but the thought of saving them didn't even cross my mind. What am I going to say to him after I experienced that?"

"There's not dead." Asuka says staring straight into Shinji's eyes.

"The point is that they could be and I know why" 

"You're lying. You can't honestly say that you didn't care about them at all. He's still your friend" 

"I didn't care"

Asuka slapped him hard, across the face. "Well then you should be ashamed! What's wrong with you!? How can you stand there and say those words?"

Shinji was trembling and tears were crawling down his face. "I didn't care. I didn't care at all. I made a promise, Soryu. I promised her, that I would kill all the angels, and that's all that matters. That's all. I didn't care...."

Asuka knew exactly who Shinji was talking about when he said 'her'. And that angered her all the more. She was trembling without realizing it as she scavenged through her brain for something to say back to him.

"Shinji...." Asuka mutters.

"I'm not going to see them" Shinji says.

"Baka! Why do you always run away like that? Why don't you go and face your problems for a change!?" Asuka yells but neither her loud voice nor advice seemed to affect Shinji.

"I'm not going..." Shinji says, "and I'm going to sleep"

---------------

_What will you choose?_

What?

_This is your world, and you have to design it_

What are you talking about

_As of now the A.T. fields of all human beings have been removed. You all live in harmony, for once._

Where's is everyone?

_Here_

Where?

_Right here_

......

_They're everywhere_

......

_Can't you feel them?_

No......

_You're just not use to it yet_

......

_So what will you do?_

I don't know

_You must know. What do you want? What do you want of this world? How will you reshape it?_

I don't ever want to kill another person.

_Even Kaji Ryoji? _

.........

_And the A.T. fields? _

I....

_If they exist you will know pain again. You will know rejection, hardship, relationships, and sorrow._

I...

_What will exist in the memories of these people? If there will be people...._

I don't know.....

_Think about it_

------

"Shinji wake up!" Asuka yells as she pounded on his door.

Shinji was awake but ignored her yelling.  


"Get up! I want breakfast!"

"It's Sunday give me a break!" Shinji yelled back.

"Well get up! You have things to do today!" 

"I'm not going to see them" 

Asuka sighs angrily and Shinji hears it. 

"Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up!" Asuka yells, "I can keep this up forever!" 

"I'm not going! That's all there is to it1"

"Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up!"

There was no response.

"Get up! Get up! Get up!" Asuka yells again but again there was no response.

"Verdammt!" Asuka yells even kouder as she kicks Shinji door. She then walks away cursing in German. Shinji lays on his bed with his eyes open. After he is assured that Asuka would no longer disturb him, he drifted back to sleep.

--------------

I've thought about it.

_And?_

I know what I'm going to do.

_Good_

For starters.....

-------------

My Rants

Is this the end of the story? Close. Will I finish it? Not anytime soon. Did I skip some parts? Alot. But it's the choice I made. I think if I add into this story everything I had planned, it might take away from the other story I am writing. (Not that it was amazingly good in the first palce). So I've decided to leave it at that. I might finish this story, I might not. I don't think too many people would really miss it. But if I'm in the mood, I'll add to this. For now I'm probably going to continue on with the sequel which should be up by the time this is posted.


End file.
